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Lamu
Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island, it is the headquarter of Lamu County and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town contains the Lamu Fort on the seafront, constructed under Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr, the Sultan of Pate, and was completed after his death in the early 1820s. Lamu is also home to 23 mosques, including the Riyadha Mosque, built in 1900, and a donkey sanctuary. History Early history The original name of the town is Amu, which the Arabs termed Al-Amu (الآمو) and the Portuguese "Lamon". The Portuguese applied the name to the entire island as Amu was the chief settlement. Lamu Town on Lamu Island is Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town, and was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, believed to have been established in ...
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Lamu Fort Museum's
Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island, it is the headquarter of Lamu County and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town contains the Lamu Fort on the seafront, constructed under Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr, the Sultan of Pate, and was completed after his death in the early 1820s. Lamu is also home to 23 mosques, including the Riyadha Mosque, built in 1900, and a donkey sanctuary. History Early history The original name of the town is Amu, which the Arabs termed Al-Amu (الآمو) and the Portuguese "Lamon". The Portuguese applied the name to the entire island as Amu was the chief settlement. Lamu Town on Lamu Island is Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town, and was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, believed to have been established in 1370 ...
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Lamu Island
Lamu Island is a port, city, and island just off the shore of Kenya in the Indian Ocean approximately 150 miles from Mombasa. It is a part of the East African country of Kenya. Lamu was founded in the 12th century. Lamu is one of the longest-established and best-preserved remaining settlements of the Swahili tradition in east Africa that remains today. The island has continually been inhabited for over seven hundred years, and continues to be an important center in eastern Africa. Swahili culture The island of Lamu is a Swahili settlement filled with culture. Prior to the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, people of various countries and regions migrated to the island of Lamu. Traders and sailors from the Arabian Peninsula, China, India and South-East Asia traveled across the Indian Ocean to the East African Coast to reach the island of Lamu. The diverse mixture of sailors and traders with the native people of the Lamu island created distinguishable social classes and a diver ...
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Lamu Fort
Lamu Fort is a fortress in the town of Lamu in northeastern Kenya. Originally situated on the waterfront, the fort today is located in a central position in the town, about from the main jetty on the shore. Lamu Fort was built between 1813 and 1821 with Omani assistance. Initially it provided a base from which the Omanis consolidated their control of the East African coast but the town later lost its economic importance. During the British colonial period, and after the independence of Kenya, the fort was used as a prison. Today it houses an environmental museum and library, and is often used for community events. Building Lamu Fort is a defensive structure that was erected at the southeast corner of the old stone town of Lamu. The fort was built beside the Pwani Mosque, the oldest known mosque in Lamu, with origins in the 14th century. The fort originally lay on the waterfront, which then ran along the main street of the town but has since retreated. Thomas Boteler, who visit ...
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Lamu County
Lamu County is a county in Kenya located along the North Coast of the country and is one of the six Coastal Counties in Kenya. Its capital is the town of Lamu. It borders Tana River County to the southwest, Garissa County to the north, Somalia to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the South. It is the smallest county in Kenya by population. The county has a land surface of , including the mainland and over 65 islands that form the Lamu Archipelago. The total length of the coastline is , while the land water mass area stands at . Demographics The county is made of a cosmopolitan population composed of communities such as Aweer, Oromo,Somalis, Swahilis, Arabs, Kore, Kikuyu, and other migrant communities from all over the country. The county had a total population of 143,920 of which 76,103 were males 67,813 females and 4 intersex persons during the 2019 census of Kenya. There were 37,963 households with an average household size of 3.7 persons per household and ...
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Lamu Archipelago
The Lamu Archipelago is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. The islands lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga. It is a part of Lamu County. The largest of the islands are Pate Island, Manda Island and Lamu Island. Smaller islands include Kiwayu, which lies in the Kiunga Marine National Reserve, and Manda Toto. Today the largest town in the archipelago is Lamu Town, on Lamu Island. The town is on the World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag .... The archipelago contains several archaeological/historical sites of great significance, such as Takwa and Manda Town (both on Manda Island) and Shanga (on Pate Island). Some have been partially excavated in later years, shedding important new lig ...
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Battle Of Shela
The Battle of Shela (or Kuduhu) occurred around 1812 on the sand dunes near the village of Shela on Lamu Island, in what is now Kenya, just south of the larger village of Lamu. The people of Lamu won against superior forces from Mombasa and Pate. The battle led to the domination of the coast by the rulers of Oman. Background The Lamu Archipelago is a group of three islands off the coast of what is now Kenya. The largest and most fertile is Pate, the northernmost. Manda lies to the south of Pate, separated by a narrow channel from Lamu, the farthest south. Manda and Lamu are sandy and covered with dunes. Lamu supports mango and coconut trees. The islands provide the best anchorages on the coast north of Mombasa. The battle was one of several between the people of Lamu and Pate during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time of the war the population of Lamu was estimated at between 15,000 and 21,000, and the town was expanding its trade while Pate was in decline. The sultans of Pa ...
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Mokowe
Mokowe is a small town in Kenya's Lamu County in what was previously Coast Province. Location Mokowe is located on the Garsen–Witu–Lamu Highway, approximately , east of Garsen. It is the last town on the route to the Mokowe Jetty, about away, from where boats leave for Lamu Island and the rest of the Lamu archipelago. The coordinates of Mokowe are 2°14'12.0"S, 40°51'18.0"E (Latitude:-2.236663; Longitude:40.854991). Overview The main health facility is Mokowe Health Centre. The town also has a post office, a police station, a branch of Kenya Commercial Bank and a branch of Postbank Kenya. See also *List of roads in Kenya The following is a list of the national roads in Kenya, under the jurisdiction of the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA). KenHa classifies International Trunk Roads as Class ‘A’ and National Trunk Roads as Class ‘B’. The list is not ... References {{reflist Populated places in Lamu County Lamu ...
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Fumo Madi Ibn Abi Bakr
Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr was Sultan of Pate, Kenya (1779 - 1809). Around 1800 the Pate Sultan took over Lamu, however, they were deeply resented by the people of Lamu. Fumomadi was persuaded ("by a faithful old advisor") to build a fort on the seafront in Lamu Town, to protect members of his government. He died (a natural death) before the first storey of the fort was completed.Martin, 1973, p 7 There was much disagreement over choosing his successor, as he had fifty children and all sons and male ín-laws were eligible for the throne. After "encouragement" from the powerful Mazrui family from Mombasa/Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ..., an in-law named Ahmad ibn Shaykh was chosen as the next Sultan. References Bibliography *Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and ...
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Swahili People
The Swahili people (, وَسوَحِيلِ) comprise mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab, and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast, an area encompassing the East African coast across southern Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and northern Mozambique, and various archipelagos off the coast, such as Zanzibar, Lamu, and the Comoro Islands. The original Swahili distinguished themselves from other Bantu peoples by self-identifying as Waungwana (the civilised ones). In certain regions, such as Lamu Island, this differentiation is even more stratified in terms of societal grouping and dialect, hinting at the historical processes by which the Swahili have coalesced over time. More recently, through a process of Swahilization, this identity extends to any person of African descent who speaks Swahili as their first language, is Muslim, and lives in a town of the main urban centres of most of modern-day Tanzania and coastal Kenya, northern Mozambique, or the Comoros. The name ''Swahili' ...
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Rulers Of Pate
List of rulers of Pate Located at Pate Island, Kenya. See also * Witu *List of Sunni Muslim dynasties The following is a list of Sunni dynasties. Asia Arabian Peninsula * Ziyadid dynasty (819–1018) * Banu Wajih (926–965) * Sulaymanids (1063–1174) * Mahdids (1159–1174) * Kathiri (Hadhramaut) (1395–1967) * Al-Jabriyun (1417–1521) * ... References *Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and Esmond Bradley Martin: ''Quest for the Past. An historical guide to the Lamu Archipelago.'' 1973. (p. 7) (only for Bwana Mkuu, Bwana Tamu and Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rulers Of Pate Pate, Rulers Pate, Rulers Pate People from Lamu Archipelago ...
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Islam In Kenya
Kenya has a Christian majority, with Islam being the second largest faith representing 11% of the Kenyan population, or approximately 5.2 million people as of the 2019 census. The Kenyan coast is mostly populated by Muslims. Nairobi has several mosques and a notable Muslim population. The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the Swahili coast, which led to local conversions and foreign Muslims becoming assimilated. This would later result in the emergence of several officially Muslim political entities in the region. The majority of Muslims in Kenya are Sunni Muslims forming 81% of the Muslim Population, 7% identify as Shia Islam in Kenya, Shia. There are also sizeable populations of Ibadism and Quranist adherents. In large part, Shias are Ismailis descended from or influenced by oceanic traders from the Middle East and India. These Shia Muslims include the Dawoodi Bohra, who number some 6,000–8,000 in the country.Helene Charton-Bigot, Deyssi Rodriguez-Torres. ''Nairobi ...
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