Thread by @HistoryKE

#HistoryKeThread: The Indian Ocean Battles
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A man who was loathful of the Portuguese and their incursions into the East Coast of Africa, Ali Bey was a Turkish admiral. In 1585, he arrived in Mogadishu in a fleet of several ships.

He touted himself as one who had been sent by the Emperor of Turkey to rid the predominantly Muslim area of Portuguese influence.

Many of the towns in the northern coast of East Africa, such as Mogadishu, Brava, Pate, Faza and Lamu laid down the red carpet for him.

The residents were happy to pay up taxes that the Admiral demanded of locals. Ali Bey claimed that the proceeds would be used in the campaign to purge the area of Portuguese.

What the locals didn’t know was that Ali Bey was acting on orders of no other person but himself.

According to historian and researcher of the East African coast, Charles Cornelius, Ali Bey’s captives included the former Portuguese Captain of Malindi, one Roque de Brito Falcao, who was captured in Lamu.

Another Portuguese man was captured in Faza, where Ali Bey appointed a compatriot King in the captive’s stead.

Elsewhere further down the coast, pockets of Portuguese realized they couldn’t offer much resistance. And so they surrendered. But it wasn’t before they had managed to send a dhow to Portuguese Goa in India to seek reinforcements from the Viceroy there.

Laden with gifts, tributes, prisoners of war and booty from the Swahili coast, Ali Bey later triumphantly returned to the Red Sea.

But unknown to him, and in the wake of his departure, a fleet of eighteen Portuguese ships made its way towards the East African coast.

And when the Portuguese arrived, they singled out Faza for their support of Ali Bey. The Portuguese naval force descended on Pate island (where Faza is located) with much brutality.

Cornelius and other historians describe the macabre tragedy that visited upon Faza. Every living soul was killed, including children. And going by Portuguese historical accounts, the people of Faza “bravely held out to the last man”.

It is not clear if Ali Bey got wind of the Portuguese incursion. For shortly afterwards, in a fleet of five ships, and backed by hundreds of men, he made his way southwards again from the Gulf of Aden.

There was welcome relief by locals as his fleet made its way towards Malindi. Again, he demanded military levies in exchange for his anti-Portuguese campaign.

At Malindi, his fleet came under a barrage of cannon fire from the Portuguese garrison on-shore. So Ali Bey retreated deeper into the sea and sailed on towards the bigger prize - Mombasa, where he built fortifications on the island to fend off an anticipated Portuguese attack.

The Turks dug in, deciding not to sail further southwards from Mombasa towards Kilwa and Pemba, the other protectorates of the Portuguese.

Meanwhile, a fearsome cannibalistic tribe of the Zimba, which hailed from present day Mozambique and Zimbabwe, was feasting its way up north.

In the island of Pemba, residents had learnt that Ali Bey was making an approach to the island. Emboldened by the news, they staged a coup of sorts and killed all Portuguese on the island in one night of bloodletting.

Under the command of Thomé de Souza, a Portuguese fleet of nine hundred men set sail from Goa. As they made the final approach to Mombasa, the Zimba overran Kilwa Fort, massacring an entire Portuguese garrison there.

The Zimba reportedly ate the three thousand Swahili prisoners that they had captured.

News of the approach of this marauding tribe, to the obvious horror of locals, reached Mombasa.

When the Zimba ate their way to mainland south of Mombasa - which is present-day Kwale, they found five Turkish ships protecting Mvita, Mombasa island (present-day old town).

The Turks realized that they faced two threats. They moved their best troops in two ships to the south of the island to confront the Zimba.

A few days later, Thomé’s fleet from Goa arrived. When it made its way into Mombasa Old Harbour, the Turkish fortifications opened fire. However, they were outnumbered and were no match for the more powerful Portuguese cannons.

The Turks abandoned their guns and scampered for the relative safety of Mvita’s streets

Oblivious of the presence of the Zimba, the Portuguese moved in to the south and captured the two Turkish battleships docked there.

There are (perhaps unverified) reports that the Zimba, who reportedly found the ship-borne cannon fire exchanges quite a spectacle, requested the Portuguese to enter the town and help kill and eat every living thing on the island.

At this point, residents of Mvita, or Mombasa old town if you like, had already fled deeper into the island. On 7th March 1589, the Portuguese entered the island and purged it of any Turkish remnants they caught sight of.

Days later, it was the Zumba’s turn. Thousands of Zimba tribesmen descended on the island, killing and thereafter feasting on scores of residents.

According to historical accounts, a few runaway Turks and Mombasans threw themselves into the arms of the Portuguese, who were at sea. Many drowned in the attempt to escape.

Ali Bey galloped in a horse into the sea towards a Portuguese ship. He was captured and taken to Portugal, where he converted to Christianity.

The Zimba kept up their rampage into Malindi. Largely unprotected save for the arms of a few daring men, Malindi was the scene of another massacre and was only saved by the Segeju, a cattle-rearing and foreskin-eating tribe that was usually a constant menace to the town.

When the Zimba attempted to scale the walls of Malindi, thousands of Segeju reportedly caught them at the rear and annihilated them.

In the wake of the “civil wars” between the Segeju and Zimba, the Portuguese went on and captured Pate and Lamu.

Along with the rulers and nobles of Pate, Bashir, ruler of Lamu, was publicly beheaded for overseeing the capture of Roque de Brito four years earlier.

The Portuguese then proceeded to Manda but found the place deserted, its inhabitants having fled earlier. The Portuguese then torched the island’s buildings and plantations, before seeing to it that the Pate and Siyu buildings were also razed to the ground.

As I conclude, we know that the Mombasa old town was called Mvita. As I have reported before, the first Commissioner of the East Africa Protectorate, Sir Charles Eliot, describing Mombasa, wrote thus:

“In virtue of the advantage of its position, it's good climate and fine harbours, Mombasa was the most important point, yet it cannot be said to have been the political centre of the surroundings. It was simply the place which was most fought about and oftenest burnt”.

He wrote on:

“The native name Mvita means war, and never was a name more justified by history. There can hardly been a town in the world which has been besieged, captured, sacked, burnt and razed to the ground so often and in so short a time...”

I am tempted to share a personal intrigue.

The Segeju were also called the Dhaiso. The name sounds eerily similar to what many Kambas, Agîkûyû and even the Meru consider to be historically a sub-part of their respective communities, and which variously went by the name Thaiso or Thagichu.

Some members of the Bagisu community of Mt. Elgon, also known as the Abagisu, could also lay a claim as having a connection with them.

Whilst it’s not known what happened to the Zimba, remnants of the Segeju community are found in modern day Tanga in Tanzania, and some Segeju speakers can be found near Shimoni, in the southern-most tip of the Kenya coast.

For further readings, look for A History Of The EA Coast by Charles Cornelius (incorp. Portuguese records), East African Coastal History by W.T. Brown, et al.

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