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- 

 quered 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 I5th, 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. 



