Mombasa
| Mombasa | |||
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 Mombasa |
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| Basic data | |||
| county | Mombasa County | ||
| Residents (state) | 1,208,333 pop (2019) | ||
| height | 23 m | ||
| Post Code | 80100 | ||
| Telephone code | +254 | ||
| Coordinates | 4 ° 3 ′ S , 39 ° 40 ′ E | ||
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With 1,208,333 inhabitants (as of 2019), Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya and the most important port city in East Africa . Mombasa is located on Mombasa Island on the Indian Ocean and is the capital of the county of the same name .
history
Mombasa was founded by Arabs in the 11th century and quickly developed into an important East African trading metropolis through the ivory and slave trade. Vasco da Gama was one of the first Europeans to arrive in this city in 1498.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese seized Mombasas and built Fort Jesus . In 1698 they were expelled from Oman by the Arabs . In 1728 the Portuguese returned and forced a base at Fort Jesus, but in October 1729 they were driven out again. A final attempt at recapture was made on January 23, 1730. A fleet of five ships was sent to Mombasa under the command of Luis Melo de Sampaio , but returned to Mozambique without attempting to attack. But the Omanis didn't stay long either. Already in 1741, when in Oman dynasty of Bû Sa'eed ( Said dynasty ) came to power, declared Mombasa under the local dynasty of the Mazrui for independent. It was not until 1837 that the Bû Sa'îd were finally able to enforce their rule over the city after several failed attempts.
Since 1856 Mombasa belonged to the Sultanate of Zanzibar . In 1887 the Sultan leased the coast of what is now Kenya with Mombasa to the Imperial British East Africa Company . From 1895 it was under the administration of the East Africa Protectorate, from 1920 to the crown colony of Kenya, but remained part of the sultanate under international law until Kenya became independent in 1963.
From the time of the occupation by the Portuguese until the second half of the 19th century, Mombasa and its port were an important center for the slave trade . There was a slave market every Saturday.
In the 2010 decade, 300 children and 50 adults, mostly residents of a battery recycling factory, died with proven lead poisoning in Mombasa . The Kenyan environmental court then awarded more than ten million euros to more than 3,000 residents and survivors. In addition, the government was obliged to remove the lead from the environment and from the Owino Uhuru slum .
climate
Mombasa's climate is tropical, with the amount of rainfall depending on the season. Most of the precipitation falls in the months of March to May (large rainy season ) and between October and December (small rainy season). In April there is an average of 250 mm of rain. The temperatures are comparatively constant throughout the year with average daily highs of just under 30 ° C and lows of over 20 ° C.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Mombasa
Source: Kenya Meteorological Department; wetterkontor.de
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Population development
The following overview shows the number of inhabitants according to the respective territorial status.
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From 1999 to 2009 the annual population growth was more than 3% per year. For the year 2050, the agglomeration is expected to have a population of 4.3 million.
Economy and Infrastructure
Mombasa is an important economic center in Kenya. In addition to the coffee trade , the food and chemical industries, there is a steel mill, an aluminum mill , an oil refinery and a cement works . In 2017, the GDP per capita in County Mombasa (congruent with the city) was 271,039 Kenya shillings (approx. 5,412 international dollars or approx. 2,320 euros ), just behind Nairobi with 317,700 Kenya shillings.
Mombasa is the most important seaport in East Africa, which is also used by the neighboring countries Tanzania and Uganda for their imports and exports . In 2014, one million TEU were handled in the existing container terminal . Another container terminal with two berths was put into operation in 2016, so that around 2.4% more containers were handled in 2016. In total, the throughput amounted to 27.4 million tons of freight.
The port is occasionally called by US warships. Whereas it used to take an average of one week to unload and load ships in the port, the lay time has recently been reduced to three days after Chinese companies modernized the port facilities.
Chinese companies have also expanded the road between the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, 500 kilometers away, and Mombasa, which was previously in very poor condition, free of charge. For this they were granted various privileges in the port of Mombasa .
Mombasa is also connected to Nairobi and Uganda by a railway line and has an international airport ( Moi International Airport ).
traffic
The Kenya Ferry Services operates six ships, including the Kwale , two ferry lines that connect the city in the south with the mainland. To the north, Mombasa is connected to the coast by the Nyali Bridge.
tourism
The tourism also plays an economic role, however, has suffered greatly in recent years under the unstable political and social situation of the country, partly because of robberies on tourists.
Mombasa made global headlines in November 2002 when a bomb attack seriously destroyed the Hotel Paradise (15 dead) and a Boeing 757 operated by the Israeli airline Arkia with 261 passengers narrowly escaped a rocket attack. One of the alleged perpetrators was Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan .
In 2003 there were fires in four hotels in Mombasa. Bundeswehr soldiers stationed in the city sometimes helped with the removal of the tourists.
Attractions
- Fort Jesus Museum (16th century)
- Mombasa old town
- Wholesale market (spices, fruit, vegetables, etc.)
- Tusks (tusks as an archway)
- Haller Park
The Fort Jesus
The old market hall
The old post office
The Shree Swamnarayan Academy
sons and daughters of the town
- Agnelo Rufino Gracias (* 1939), Indian clergyman and Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in Bombay
- Cosima von Bonin (* 1962), German artist
- Douglas Wakiihuri (born 1963), long-distance runner
- Jennifer Mulinde-Schmid (* 1982), Swiss actress, singer and dancer
- Martina Pinto (* 1989), Italian actress
- Mercedes Iman Diamond (* 1986), drag queen and participant in the 11th season of RuPaul's Drag Race
literature
Non-fiction
- James Kirkman: Fort Jesus, a Portuguese Fortress on the East African coast . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974. ISBN 0-19-920035-1
- Kai Kresse: Philosophizing in Mombasa . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2007. ISBN 978-0-7486-2786-8
- Justin Willis: Mombasa, the Swahili, and the making of the Mijikenda. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-19-820320-9 .
- Charles Ralph Boxer and Carlos de Azevedo: Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa, 1593-1729 . London, Hollis & Carter, 1960.
- Fred James Berg: Mombasa under the Busaidi Sultanate: the City and its hinterlands in the nineteenth century . Ann Arbor, University Microfilms International, 1984.
Fiction
- Nick Brownlee: Murder in Mombasa , novel. Verlag Knaur TB, Munich 2009. ISBN 978-3-426-50326-3
- Frank Coates: Beyond Mombasa , Roman. Verlag Knaur TB, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-426-63410-3
- Jürgen Jesinghaus: Mombasa or the world , novel. Universal frame publishing house, Zofingen 2010. ISBN 978-3-905960-12-9
- Heinz Strunk: Heinz Strunk in Africa , story. Verlag Rowohlt Polaris, Reinbek 2011. ISBN 978-3-86252-002-2
Web links
- Travel and safety information from the Federal Foreign Office
- Mombasa Online
- Port of Mombasa
- Ministry of Public Works Kenya - Mombasa District Map (.pdf)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kenya 2009 Census, KenyaOpenData. (No longer available online.) In: opendata.go.ke. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012 ; Retrieved August 6, 2012 .
- ↑ Mombasa (Mombasa, Coast, Kenya) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
- ↑ António de Albuquerque Coelho (Portuguese)
- ↑ Anne Backhaus, DER SPIEGEL: 10 million euros for lead-poisoned people in Kenya: "At last we experience justice" - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved July 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Anne Backhaus, DER SPIEGEL: 10 million euros for lead-poisoned people in Kenya: "At last we experience justice" - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved July 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Kenya Meteorological Department: Mombasa Climate Information. World Meteorological Organization, accessed October 27, 2012 .
- ↑ Kenya: Provinces, Cities, Municipalities & Urban Centers - Population figures in maps and tables. Retrieved January 3, 2019 .
- ↑ City population 2050 | Sustainability Today. Retrieved July 24, 2018 .
- ^ Gross County Product 2019 . Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- ↑ Peter Kleinort: 19 bidders for the terminal in Mombasa · Plans call for handling of 1.2 million TEU by 2019 . In: Daily port report of March 3, 2015, p. 13
- ^ Peter Kleinort: More containers in Mombasa . In: Daily port report of May 4, 2017, p. 16
- ↑ US forces kill al-Qaida leaders in Somalia. In: Spiegel Online. September 15, 2009, accessed December 2, 2014 .
- ↑ Bundeswehr rescues tourists from burning hotel. (No longer available online.) In: stern.de. September 2, 2003, archived from the original on March 12, 2016 ; accessed on June 15, 2015 .