INTRODUCTION XXiii 
disaster in the north, Portugal continued to pour out blood 
and treasure. Here, in briefest outline, is the story of 
the town. Vasco de Gama anchored off Mombassa, 
April 7, 1498, and Camoen, writing of the town as it then 
was, says, on “it’s sea-board-frontage” were to be seen 
“noble edifices fairly planned.” In 1505 the Portuguese 
fleet attacked the place and the town was stormed. The 
Arabs retook it, and in 1528 Mombassa was stormed and 
burned for the second time. 
In 1585 Turkish Corsairs drove out the Portuguese again, 
carrying off plunder to the value of £600,000 (a great sum 
for those days) and fifty Portuguese prisoners. Portugal 
retook it in 1586 and lost it again to the Corsairs in 1588. 
In 1592 Portugal returned in overwhelming force, con- 
guered all the neighbouring towns, stormed Mombassa, 
and made it the capital of East Africa. 
The great citadel was commenced in 1593. See inscrip- 
tion inside the porch. 
In 1631 all the Portuguese in Mombassa were murdered 
in an Arab rising, led by an Arab whom they had sent to 
Goa to be educated and baptized, and who had married 
a Portuguese lady. 
A punitive expedition drove him out — but not till he 
had dismantled the fort and burned the town. 
1635. The fort was repaired. (See inscription over 
sally port.) 
1660. An Arab fleet sailed from Muscat to aid the 
inhabitants to throw off the intolerable yoke of Portugal’s 
tyranny. The town was now constantly attacked by the 
Arabs till 1696, when the great siege began. An Arab 
fleet entered the harbour March 15th, and the population 
of the island, black and European, which had been much 
reduced by constant warfare, took refuge in the citadel. 
There were, in all, 2,500. 
A relieving fleet was driven off. 
