Mombasa, city and chief seaport of Kenya, capital of Coast Province, on a bay of the Indian Ocean, just south of the equator. The fast-growing city, which also serves as a port for northeastern Tanzania and landlocked Uganda, includes Old Mombasa, located on a small offshore island (16 sq km/6 sq mi), and a larger, more modern mainland metropolitan area, which is connected to the island by causeway, bridge, and ferries. Kilindini, a modern deepwater harbor on the western side of the island, has extensive docks, shipyards, and sugar and petroleum refineries. Old Mombasa Harbour, on the eastern side of the island, handles mainly dhows and other small coastal trading vessels. Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese in the 1590s, is maintained as a museum. Mombasa Polytechnic (1948) is in the city.
Mombasa was founded about the 8th century by Arab traders. It was visited in the 1330s by the noted Arab traveler Ibn Batuta and in 1498 by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Mombasa later changed hands several times before coming under the control of the sultan of Zanzibar in 1840. It passed to the British in 1895 and was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate until 1907. It was made the capital of the coastal Protectorate of Kenya in 1920, and in 1963 it became part of newly independent Kenya (which includes the former protectorate and colony of Kenya). Mombasa has often been a port of call for United States Navy vessels. Population (1989) 465,000.
