Fort Jesus Mombasa Historical Tour

Fort Jesus in Kenya’s coastal city of mombasa is Mombasa ’s most popular tourist attraction.
Fort Jesus, located along the coastline near the Old Town and the Old port, is a monumental piece of architecture that was built in 1593 by the Portuguese almost a hundred years since the Portuguese explorer Vasco De Gama landed on the shores of Mombasa.

The purpose of his exploration was to spread the Christian faith and to further expand Portugal’s trading area.

His arrival to Mombasa was met which much hostility among the local people. However, he made a very important ally, the King of Malindi.

The Portuguese knew that Mombasa was essential in order to successfully trade their goods; hence in 1592 they used their power to make the King of Malindi the Sultan of Mombasa. In doing so the locals consequently had no choice but to obey the orders of the Sultan, which in turn came from the Portuguese Government.

Mombasa soon became Portugal’s main trading centre along the East Coast of Africa. This led to the construction of a monumental fort that still stands today known as Fort Jesus.
Designed by an Italian architect, Jao batisto Cairato, the fort was his last assignment as chief architect for Portuguese possession in the East, and was the ‘crown jewel’ of his career. the fort is today hailed as one of the best examples of 16th century Portuguese military architecture.

History
The Portuguese built Fort Jesus in 1593. The site chosen was a coral ridge at the entrance to the harbor. The Fort was designed by an Italian Architect and Engineer, Joao, Batista Cairato.
The earliest known plan of the Fort is in a manuscript Atlas by Manuel Godinho de Heredia - dated 1610 which shows the original layout of the buildings inside the Fort.

Fort Jesus was built to secure the safety of Portuguese living on the East Coast of Africa. It has had a long history of hostilities of the interested parties that used to live in Mombasa. Perhaps no Fort in Africa has experienced such turbulence as Fort Jesus.

Oman Arabs attacked the Fort from 1696 to 1698. The state of the Fort can be understood from the plan of Rezende of 1636 and other plans by Don Alvaro’ Marquis of Cienfuegas and Jose’ Lopes de Sa- made during the brief reoccupation by the Portuguese in 1728 - 1729. In the Cienfuegas plan, the names of the bastions are changed.

Between 1837 - 1895, the Fort was used as a barracks for the soldiers.