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Visit Fort Jesus
441 km
KE Makadara Mombasa
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Built by the Portuguese at the end of the 16th century on the southern edge of the town of Mombasa, over a spur of coral rock, and kept under their control
for a century, Fort Jesus, Mombasa, bears witness to the first successful attempt by Western civilization to rule the Indian ocean trade routes, which had remained under Eastern influence until then.
The design of the fort, with its dimensions, its imposing walls
and five bastions, represents the military architectural philosophy of the Renaissance.
Fort Jesus, Mombasa, bears physical witness, in its frameworks and subsequent transformations, also to the exchange of cultural values and cultures between
and among peoples of African, Arab, Turkish, Persian and European origin that battled to acquire and retain their control over this strategic port.