- Fort Jesus
Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort built in
1593 by order of KingPhilip II of Spain ( King Philip I of Portugal ), then ruler of the joint Portuguese and Spanish Kingdoms, located onMombasa Island to guard the Old Port ofMombasa ,Kenya . It was built in the shape of aman (viewed from the air), and was given the name ofJesus , after ShaikhIsa Bin Tarif Al Bin Ali Al Utbi conquered the fort in 1837 after being asked for assistance by Sayyid Saeed Bin Sultan Imam of Muscat [ The Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by John Gordon Lorimer p451 ] . The nameJesus in Arabic means Isa, therefore it means the Fort of Isa (Isa Bin Tarif ).Isa Bin Tarif , Chief of theAl Bin Ali Al Utbi Tribe , is a desendant of theOriginal Utub who conquered Bahrain [ The Precis Of Turkish Expansion On The Arab Littoral Of The Persian Gulf And Hasa And Katif Affairs. By J. A. Saldana; 1904 , I.o. R R/15/1/724 ] . TheAl Bin Ali were a politically important group that moved backwards and forwards between Qatar and Bahrain, they were the original dominant group ofZubara area [ Arabia's Frontiers: The Story of Britain's Boundary Drawing in the Desert, John C. Wilkinson, p44 ] .Overview
Between
1631 and1875 the fort was won and lost nine times by the nations contesting control of Mombasa. It was declared a historical monument in1958 . Today it houses amuseum .The fort was designed by an Italian architect, Jao Batisto Cairato, who was the Chief Architect for Portuguese possessions in the East. Today, it is one of the finest examples of 16th century Portuguese
military architecture, which has been influenced and changed by both theOmani Arabs and the British [ Kirkman, J. 1974. "Fort Jesus: A Portuguese Fortress on the East African Coast" Clarendon Press: Oxford ] .The fort quickly became a vital possession for anyone with the intention of controllingMombasa Island or the surrounding areas of trade. When the British colonised Kenya, they used it as aprison , until 1958, when they converted it into a historical monument. James Kirkman was then assigned to excavate the monument, which he did (with a large use of external historical documents) from 1958 to 1971 [ Kirkman, J. 1974. "Fort Jesus: A Portuguese Fortress on the East African Coast" Clarendon Press: Oxford ] .Fort Jesus Today
Fort Jesus is now a popular destination for foreign and local tourists. As well as a tourist destination the Fort is important as a host for numerous research programmes, a Conservation Lab, and Education Department and an Old Town Conservation Office.
References
External links
* [http://www.museums.or.ke/regftjes.html Fort Jesus Museum]
* [http://website.lineone.net/~yamaguchi/tourism/fortj.html Brief History of Fort Jesus]
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