1815-1886







Kenya's Early History



First, Kenya as a geographical and political entity did not take shape before the period of High Imperialism. What is referred to here therefore is the history of the region that was to become Kenya.

While Kenya's interior was settled by African peoples, among them Bantu and Masai, Arabs and Indians settled along the coast, where they established trading centres such as MOMBASA, MALINDI and PATE. Mombasa was well established when it was visited by IBN BATTUTA in 1331; Malindi was visited in the 15th century by Chinese explorer ZHENG HE.
Soon after Vasco da Gama opened the Indian Ocean to Portuguese trade, the Portuguese took control of the major trading places along the coast, including Mombasa (1529, 1592) and Malindi. The Portuguese in turn were expelled from Mombasa in 1699 by the Omanis. In 1741 the Omani governor of Mombasa took advantage of a power struggle in Oman and virtually made himself independent, thus founding the MAZRUI DYNASTY, which was to hold Mombasa until 1837.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Infoplease : Kenya
Kenyan History, by Timothy F. Bliss
Mombasa's History, from Mombasa Online
Links on Kenyan History from Looksmart
DOCUMENTS Medieval reports from visitors of Kilwa, from University of Minnesota, Dept. of History
Map of Kenya, from Timothy F. Bliss
Hans Mayr : The Voyage and Acts of Dom Francisco, 1505, from Modern History Sourcebook, paragraphs on Mombasa and Malindi
REFERENCE The History of the Mazru'i Dynasty of Mombasa, by Shaykh al-Amin bin Ali al Mazru'i, edited by Oxford University Press in Engl. translation



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 7th 2004

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