Zanzibar; city, island, and coast. Vol. 2 (of 2)Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
Zanzibar; city, island, and coast. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Africa, East -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Tanzania -- Zanzibar; Zanzibar -- Description and travel
In A.D. 1500 Mombasah yielded to D. Alvarez Cabral, and, three years
afterwards, the Captain Ravasco settled its tribute. On August 13,
1505—events succeeded one another rapidly in those brave old times—D.
Francisco de Almeyda, the first viceroy of Portuguese India, who had
been gravely insulted by the turbulent citizens, attacked with his 20
ships, captured and burnt it. The Sultan was admitted to the honours of
vassalship and tribute; stringent regulations were made, and the
conquest having been placed in the first of the three provinces of
Ethiopia and Arabia, with Mozambique as the general capital, the
government was confided by the king, in A.D. 1508, to D. Duarte de
Lemos. In 1516 Mombasah is described by Duarte Barbosa as a well-built,
wealthy, and flourishing place, which exported honey, wax, and ivory. It
was again attacked by D. Nuno da Cunha, who was bent upon avenging the
insults offered to his allies, the chiefs of Zanzibar, Melinde, and
Atondo. The Sultan defended himself stoutly, introduced into the city
5000 black archers, and armed a fort with cannon taken from Portuguese
ships: the women and children were sent to the mainland, and a system of
sorties and surprises was organized, which protracted the affair from
November 14 to March 3, 1529. At length D. Nuno, after destroying the
houses and cutting down the palm trees, set fire to the place, and burnt
it to the ground. These active measures secured peace for some years. In
1586 the Turkish corsair, Ali Bey, persuaded Mombasah to place itself,
like Makdishu, Ampaza, Lamu, Kelifi, and Brava, under the Sultan of
Stambul. D. Duarte de Menezes, viceroy of India, sent from Goa a fleet
of 18 ships, under Martim Affonso de Melo Bombeyro, who revenged the
insult by burning Mombasah the third time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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