Mombasa

Mombasa, an island and town off the coast of Zanzibar, east Africa, in lat. 4° 4' S. It is the headquarters of the Imperial British East Africa

Company. The island is three miles long by two wide, and the channel separating it from the mainland affords good harbours. The town is on the North Harbour, and a line is being constructed to connect the district with Lake Victoria Nyanza, and harbour works are in progress. For a long time, the island belonged to Portugal, but from 1823-26 it was under British protection, the country, however, refusing to annex it. Later the Sultan of Muscat took it, and left it to his son, the Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1888 the Sultan gave government rights to the Imperial East Africa Company, and the island, together with a large mainland district, became British.