Siyu is a settlement on the north coast of

Pate Island Pate (Paté) Island () is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. It is the largest island in the Lamu Archipelago, which lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga in the former Coast Province. ...

, within the

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, Man ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Coast Province The Coast Province () was one of Kenya's eight provinces prior to 2010. It covered the entire country's coastline on the Indian Ocean. Its capital city was Mombasa. It was inhabited by the Mijikenda and Swahili peoples, among others. The provin ...

. The age of Siyu is not known, but it might date from the 13th century.Martin, 1973, p. 23 The first inhabitants of Siyu were Watikuu and Somali from Dondo and Burkao. There are some other accounts that mention Chinese ships of

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

's fleet sinking near

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-est ...

in Kenya in 1415. Survivors settled on the island and married local women. This has been proven recently by archaeological work on the island that has resulted in the finding of evidence to suggest this connection. Further DNA testing done on some residents from Siyu show that they indeed have Chinese ancestors. Gaspar de Santo Bernadino visited the town in 1606, and stated that it was the largest town on the island. Following the formation of close ties with a new wave of Somali settlers in the 1700s, the Famao patricians agreed to a diarchy for the rule of Siyu, with power shared between a Famao patrician and a Somali shaykh. This alliance allowed the Famao to share the Somali shaykhs’ reputation for piety, learning, and religious authority, and the shaykhs are credited with initiating an era of Islamic renaissance in Siyu, during which the town became a renowned centre of Islamic learning and book production. Siyu's main claim to historical fame is that it through several battles withstood the sultans of

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

. In 1843 the sheikh of Siyu, Bwana Mataka, and the new sheikh of Pate, repudiated the sovereignty of Seyyid Said, Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar. In response, Seyyid Said assembled an army consisting of 2000 people from

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

and

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 Isla ...

. Leading them was his relative General Seyyid Hamad bin Ahmed Al-Busaidy, known as Amir Hamad. He had previously been Governor of

Bandar Abbas Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...

(in 1824). He landed at Faza in early January 1844. On January the 6th they moved towards Siyu, but were ambushed and forced back to Faza. After three weeks without victory Amir Hamad sailed off. In 1845 Siyu gave Seyyid Said one of his greatest military defeats. When Siyu finally succumbed to Zanzibar's dominance, under Sultan Majid in 1863, it was one of the last towns on the whole of East Africa's coast to do so.

Siyu Fort Siyu is a settlement on the north coast of Pate Island, within the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya's Coast Province. The age of Siyu is not known, but it might date from the 13th century.Martin, 1973, p. 23 The first inhabitants of Siyu were Watikuu ...

is in interesting artefact in that it is a

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

built by locals, not by foreigners. It is constructed of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

. Locals are known for their leather-craft.

References

Bibliography

* * *Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and Esmond Bradley Martin: ''Quest for the Past. An historical guide to the Lamu Archipelago.'' 1973.

External links

* {{Lamu Archipelago Swahili people Swahili city-states Swahili culture Populated places in Coast Province

See also

References

Bibliography

External links