Talk:Mombasa

Miscellaneous
The Finnish singer Taiska's 1970's hit "Mombasa" is not about the city. The name of the city is mentioned in the song and is the title of the song, but the song is more about a vacation romance on the beach. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.252.5.66 (talk) 14:25, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Is it supposed to say 'bumbasa' there at the beginning what the hell 128.113.156.51 13:08, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Mombasa appeared in some film (I can't recall the name) as a bizarre version of poker ("poker Mombasa"). The player who was supposed to know the special rules of "poker Mombasa" keeped tuning them to the purpose of winning every hand.

4lex 08:15 14 Jul 2003 (UTC)

--- Anyone know what the name means/where it comes from? I searched but couldn't find anything. The bellman 03:04, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

City status of Mombasa
This page is innacurate. Mombasa is not a city. The only two cities in Kenya are Nairobi and Kisumu. How do you report innacuracies in Wikipages?

20 October 2005
 * This talk page is a good place. Do you have a source for your statement about the Kenyan cities? There's also sometimes a difference between "official" cities, awarded that status by the state, and settlements that most people would call "cities". By the latter definition, Mombasa would be called a "city". &mdash; Matt Crypto 11:37, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
 * This is not the quickest possible reply, but at least I have an answer. There is only one city in Kenya, that is Nairobi. Mombasa is a municipality. In Kenya, municipality has a rather unique meaning, it is an urban centre classified between city and town. Further details behind this link and here. Julius Sahara 05:35, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
 * One source puts it this way: "There are currently three cities in Kenya, namely, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. Mombasa and Kisumu were elevated to city status in 2001 though they are yet to get their charters." (Les Cahiers d’Afrique de l’Est – Supplementary Issue September, 2006.) &mdash; Matt Crypto 08:09, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

New Mombasa
I took the liberty of adding information on Mombasa's role in the Halo franchise to the article. The city has played a major role in at least three titles (Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST) and has been rendered in the series at least fourteen times:


 * In five campaign levels (Outskirts, Metropolis, Tsavo Highway, Floodgate, and the entirety of Halo 3: ODST)
 * In six multiplayer maps (District, Headlong, Terminal, Tombstone, Turf, and Longshore). Additional maps are set in the region surrounding the city, including Zanzibar, Voi, and the jungles near the Tanzanian border.
 * In comics ("Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa", from the Halo Graphic Novel) and in video (the short "Another Day at the Beach")
 * In print, for a multi-page discussion of the city's design aesthetic in The Art of Halo

I think it's safe to say that New Mombasa is the most well-known representation of the city to ever exist in popular culture. This fact, along with numerous references to the New Mombasa environment in both gaming outlets and mainstream Kenyan press, is enough to merit at least a brief mention in this article.

(I also resisted the impulse to add too many details to the section, opting instead to link to the Halo Wikia article for the city, which has much more information as well as pictures.) --Jordan117 (talk) 07:30, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Bizarre low temperatures
31-May-09: The Mombasa climate table (as of May 2009) makes no sense, with the coldest low temperatures occurring on the hottest days: low 16.5 (62F) when high 35.5 (96F). Many other towns in Kenya have the coldest lows on the colder days, heating the day by only +12 C degrees (+22 F). Compare to Mombasa-climate table in article "Climate of Kenya" with coldest days in July-August. I will check other sources this week to determine accurate data, and then cite 2 independent sources. -Wikid77 (talk) 15:28, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

How can the "colonial period" only date from the late 19th C?
There is something decidedly odd about writing "In the late pre-colonial period (late 19th century)," when what is meant is pre-British colonialism. The city was colonized repeatedly from at least the 15th C by Portugal and various Arab suzerains, if not from a much earlier date. nwander (talk) 17:14, 10 June 2009 (UTC) Nathaniel Wander Edinburgh

The Portuguese were not interested in colonising the area, just to exploit the trade in the area - this is better classed as trade domination or piracy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.49.96.67 (talk) 14:49, 6 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Because the overall narrative of this article is to present a dishonest take on History and appropriate the culture of the Waswahili. The Swahili Coast was part of the Omani Empire and fell under Omani colonial influence (and others) from about 600-800AD (perhaps even earlier) until the arrival of the Portuguese (swinging in the balance for a couple of centuries, until the arrival of the British (and Germans)). There is also a semitic DNA strain (tribe name escapes me at the moment) in Southern Africa / Mozambique suggesting that Arabian peoples have been on the Coast for much longer.
 * There is zero evidence that Bantu tribes settled anything other than fishing villages on the coast. The Waswahil (the merger of Indian Ocean peoples and local Bantus with Islam at the core) created the Swahili Culture largely under the stewardship of the Omani Arabs (typically, clan-families therein).
 * There are numerous sentences within the article that require you to forget this History to make a dishonest alternative work. Most of this rewriting of History comes from African Studies groups in the USA which want a History of Africa that fits with their own mindset (Pan-African, Afro-centric nonsense) ... get used to it, it's spreading and going to be around for a long time before 'real' Historians reclaim the field. 2001:8003:70F5:2400:99A6:D95A:4C91:7FA (talk) 15:06, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

Cession to Kenya
The article states (without citation): "Mombasa was part of the state of Zanzibar until 12 December 1963 when it was ceded to be incorporated into the newly independent state of Kenya." Can someone add information about why it was ceded to Kenya, and who made that decision? JamesMLane t c 09:56, 3 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Heh, given the timing of your question, I was guessing you were a birther before I checked your contribs and user page. Guess not.  ;)
 * I'm not finding a lot of sources online, but the relationship seems to be quite messy here. "Ceded" is almost certainly the wrong word...
 * I think the timeline is something vaguely like this:
 * 1800s -- British starting to become dominant power in Africa (which is already heavily colonized)
 * 1890 -- A treaty establishes the Sultanate of Zanzibar as a British protectorate, including some territory that is now part of Kenya.
 * Late 1950s and early 1960s -- Rebellion in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and in territories now known as Kenya.
 * Early 1963 -- The rudiments of a potential democratic government begin forming in Kenya.
 * December 10th, 1963 -- The Sultanate of Zanzibar becomes fully independent from Great Britain. However, Mombasa stays under British control (for another two days, at least).
 * December 12th, 1963 -- Kenya becomes independent from Great Britain, including Mombasa, and is run by KANU for the next I-forget-how-many-years.
 * January 12th, 1964 -- Not sure if the Sultan of Zanzibar had designs on Mombasa or not, but the point becomes moot when the monarchy is overthrown and four months of bloody revolution and genocide follow.
 * April 26th, 1964 -- Zanzibar becomes part of newly-formed Tanzinia.
 * I think I have some of that story wrong (I am having trouble finding sources online, cannot go to the library right now, and the Wikipedia articles on these countries/territories are inconsistent) but in any case, I think the word "ceded" is almost certainly misleading. Basically, in late 1963 through early 1964, a bunch of British colonies and protectorates in Africa became a bunch of independent African nations -- and the borders of the former did not necessarily correlate with the borders of the latter.
 * Given Orly's latest lunacy, it suddenly seems kinda relevant to make sure we get the story straight here... hmm... anybody on their way to the library? --13.12.254.95 (talk) 20:38, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

86.133.208.203 (talk) 17:13, 4 August 2009 (UTC) First, any ceding going on seems to have occurred in the 1890s - 1894, to be precise, to the authorities responsible for 'British East Africa'.

Second, the paragraph about the Qatar and Bahrein tribes seems to have been written by someone with no knowledge of African or Middle East geography.

"The Al bin Ali (the tribe of Isa bin Tarif) were a politically important group that moved backwards and forwards between Qatar and Bahrain, they were the original dominant group of Zubara area [6]."

What has a group based in the Persian Gulf, thousands of miles away which seems to have moved only a few dozen miles back and fore, got to do with Mombasa?

Is this a mistake - a piece that should have been put into the entry about Zubara (easy to confuse with Zanzibar, obviously - except that they are thousands of miles apart from each other) or evidence of 'birther' groups trying to prop up their daft 'Obama was born in Kenya' guff?

Should a lawsuit be launched to force them to dispaly all documents related to their conspiracy?

Or should that nonsensical and irrelevant paragraph simply be deleted? 86.133.208.203 (talk) 17:13, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

I would delete the paragraph. I have studied east African history for years and never heard that Mombassa were politically allied until 1963. My understanding has always been that Zanzibar and Mombassa were allied culturally and politically under the Omani rulers. In 1890, Zanzibar was made a British protectorate (rather than German as mainland Tanzania was), although it continued to maintain cultural ties with Mombassa which continue until now. As for Mombassa, it was gradually subsumed under the new British East Africa colony, which took on the name Kenya after World War I. Tony Waters  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.142.57.166 (talk) 20:45, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

To avoid confusion, it might be best to remove that statement until it can be verified. I have also searched other online sources and was unable to verify the statement anywhere else. This isn't about "birther" or "denier", its about having Wiki be right and being a reliable place to find information. If you make it about politics, Wiki will lose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.169.40.222 (talk) 11:38, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

National status of Mombasa 1895 to 1963
The tourist site says Zanzibar leased Mombasa to Britain in 1895. Britain administered Mombasa as part of Kenya until independence in 1963.

Dinesen in her Out of Africa (1938) writes on page 225 (1992 edition) that Berkeley wanted to trade in "Lamu, Mombasa and Zanzibar." This might suggest she regarded Mombasa as not part of Zanzibar at that time, otherwise why list them separately? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.172.186.229 (talk) 22:54, 10 September 2009 (UTC) My 1955 Collier's World Atlas clearly shows Mombasa as part of Kenya. I find nothing that would lead me to believe otherwise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.251.73.229 (talk) 23:55, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

1999 Census
Where on earth do these uncited population figures come from? The text states that the 1999 census figure for the "city" was 727,842. The Infobox gives 1999 populations of 707,400 for the "city" and "urban area". Neither appears to make any sense whatevever.

The 1999 census shows Mombasa District had a population of 665,018. Unfortunately, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics website appears to be unavailable, but secondary sources confirming this figure are Statoids : Districts of Kenya and Geohive : Kenya : Administrative Units At that time, Mombasa was one of 7 districts in Coast Province, though this has subsequently been increased to 21 districts, as detailed at Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security : Coast Province.

Skinsmoke (talk) 08:43, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Administered
I was looking the population given for the city, and it got me to thinking about how exactly the "city" is administered at the local government level? I went to the Mombasa District wiki page, and it seems there are four divisons, and that there isn't a "city" of Mombasa, per say, rather an urban area covered by four different local governments. Anyone want to explain this? If the population is given for the urbanized area, that needs to be made clear in the infobox by listing it as "urban" instead of "city". --Criticalthinker (talk) 09:26, 23 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I just looked up the population for the entire district of Mombasa for the 2009 Census, and it only gives it as 523,183. This means that the population listed for the "city" is actually for the urbanized area.  Still, I'm not even sure where that population comes from, but Kenya's statistics bureau doesn't have this information readily available. --Criticalthinker (talk) 03:46, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Timeline of Mombasa
What is missing from the city timeline? Please add relevant content. Thank you. -- M2545 (talk) 11:12, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (February 2018)
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Nomination of Portal:Mombasa for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether Portal:Mombasa is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The page will be discussed at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Mombasa until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the page during the discussion, including to improve the page to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the deletion notice from the top of the page. North America1000 05:52, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

Claims Swahili Architecture is indigenous.
"The oldest stone mosque in Mombasa, Mnara, was built c. 1300. The Mandhry Mosque, built in 1570, has a minaret that contains a regionally specific ogee arch. This suggests that Swahili architecture was an indigenous African product and disproves assertions that non-African Muslims brought stone architecture to the Swahili Coast."

I would say non-African Muslims heavily influenced it and Swahili architecture was a continuation of Arab/South Asian architecture which had no equivalent inland. Lest you have any pre-conceived notions of what Mombasa was like in the 1500s:

"... a town called Mombaça. It is a very fair place, with lofty stone and mortar houses, well aligned in streets [after the fashion of Kilwa]. The wood is well-fitted with excellent joiner's work. It has its own king, himself a Moor. [The men are in colour either tawny, black or white and also] their women go very bravely attired with many fine garments of silk and gold in abundance." Barbosa, Duarte, The book of Duarte Barbosa; an account of the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their inhabitants, 1518. 2001:8003:70F5:2400:C54D:96D9:CD47:690F (talk) 00:16, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Notable People
This behavior of placing These Europeans or other people who weren't born in a certain city and perhaps just visited is insulting. The list of known people should only be for those born and reared in Mombasa or any other city for that matter RickyBlair668 (talk) 09:13, 10 October 2023 (UTC)