SOME BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT FORT JESUS

                                                              
Fort Jesus  is a fort located on Mombasa Island. Designed by Italian Giovanni Battista Cairati, it was built between 1593 and 1596, by order of King Philip II of Spain and I of Portugal, to guard the Old Port of Mombasa. Fort Jesus was the only fort maintained by the Portuguese on the Swahili Coast, and is recognised as a testament to the first successful attempt by a Western power to establish influence over the Indian Ocean trade.
Cairato, the designer of the fort, was inspired by Italian architect Pietro Cataneo, while the master builder was Gaspar Rodrigues. The fort was Cairato's last overseas work. Although the design of Fort Jesus is an example of Renaissance architecture, the masonry techniques, building materials and labour are believed to have been provided by the local Swahili people. The fort was built in the shape of a man (viewed from the air) and is roughly square, with four bulwarks at its corners. The fort is considered a masterpiece of late Renaissance military fortification.
Fort Jesus was captured and recaptured at   least nine times between 1631, when the Portuguese lost it to the Sultan Yusuf ibn al-Hasan of Mombasa, and 1895 when it fell under British rule and was converted into a prison. After the Portuguese recaptured it from the Sultan in 1632, they refurbished it and built more fortifications, subsequently making it harder for the fort to fall. The fort was subject to an epic two-year siege from 1696-98 by the Omani Arabs, led by Saif bin Sultan. The capture of the fort marked the end of Portuguese presence on the coast, although they briefly captured and re-occupied it between 1728 and 1729 with the help of the Swahili city-states. The fort fell under local rule from 1741 to 1837, when it was again captured by the Omanis and used as a barracks, before its occupation by the British in 1895, after the declaration of the Protectorate of Kenya.`
Fort Jesus was declared a national park in 1958, and in 2011, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and highlighted as one of the most outstanding and well-preserved examples of 16th-century Portuguese military fortifications. The fort is Mombasa's most visited tourist attraction  and therefore resulting to foreign  income to the government thereby upgrading the economy of kenya.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENT AMONG THE KAMBA

Image
The Kamba  mbeve  is a good example of the gourd-resonated fiddle. The gourd is ‘inverted and then pierced on both sides by a small bow. A string (formerly a tendon from a cow) is stretched across the membrane at the top and affixed on either side to the bow. The bridge, as stated earlier, is optional. The cylindrical wood-resonated fiddle is more common in western Kenya, and was traditionally used with a bridge. The tuning loops and indents found on similar instruments in the south-eastern parts of Africa 1  are not used in Kenya. Instead the tuning peg which holds the string is turned. The bridge may be moved to either end of the membrane to increase or decrease the tension in the string. Bows Kenyan youth have always used their hunting bows as instruments although not much attention is paid to this form of music. Although the hunting bow is used for entertainment, it must be ritually cleaned if it is to be used for therapeutic purposes by traditional doctors. Among the Kamba,
Read more
Image
THE CULTURE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF EARLY MAN . Early human cultural and economic activities can be looked at under various Stone Age periods. The type of tools used at every period describe the various stages of human cultural development. Initially the tools were made of stone hence the term stone age. The early human cultural and economic practices have been divided into three Stone Age periods. These are: The Early Stone Age The Middle Stone Age The Late Stone Age Early Stone Age dates from approximately 2.5 million years ago until about 200,000 years ago. It includes the earliest record of human tool making and documents much of the evolutionary history of the genus Homo. The Early Stone Age has been divided into three main technological phases. These are the Pre-Oldowan, the Oldowan and the Acheulean. Eerly stone age period. Early Stone Age existed 2.5 million years ago. It was the longest of the stone ages. Some of the earliest archaeological finds of early st
Read more

TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIGHTING FIRE AMONG MASAI

Image
As they say culture difference should not separate  us from each other but rather cultural diversity brings strength that can benefit all humanity and that is why  the Masai  have never abandoned their culture  and they put it in practice  day after  the other. They put into practice  the invention of fire by Homo erectus who was  the first creature to invent fire  around 1.7 to 1.2 years ago. masai have copied  this from the homo erectus and they use the same method  to  light fire from generation to generation  so as to Abandon  the new error technology and remain with their culture.
Read more