Mombasa

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Mom·ba·sa

M0377900 (mŏm-băs′ə, -bä′sä) A city of southeast Kenya mainly on Mombasa Island, in the Indian Ocean north of Zanzibar. Visited by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage to India (1498), the island-city was ruled successively by Portugal, Oman, Zanzibar, and Great Britain until the early 1900s.

Mombasa

(mɒmˈbæsə) n (Placename) a port in S Kenya, on a coral island in a bay of the Indian Ocean: the chief port for Kenya, Uganda, and NE Tanzania; became British in 1887, capital of the East African Protectorate until 1907. Pop: 828 000 (2005 est)

Mom•ba•sa

(mɒmˈbɑ sɑ, -ˈbæs ə)

n. 1. an island in S Kenya. 2. a seaport on this island. 600,000.

Thesaurus

Noun

Mombasa - a port city in southern Kenya on a coral island in a bay of the Indian OceanKenya, Republic of Kenya - a republic in eastern Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1963; major archeological discoveries have been made in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya

Mombasa

enUK

Mombasa

(mŏmbă`sə, –bä`sə), city (1990 est. pop. 537,000), capital of Coast prov., SE Kenya, mostly on Mombasa island in the Indian Ocean and partly on the mainland (with which it is connected by a causeway). It is Kenya's chief port and an important commercial and industrial center. Manufactures include processed food, cement, and glass. Oil is refined and tourism is also important. From the 8th to the 16th cent. Mombasa was a center of the Arab trade in ivory and slaves. The city was visited (1498) by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage to India. Mombasa was burned three times by the Portuguese. The Portuguese controlled the city until 1698, when it was regained by the Arabs; the Portuguese briefly held the city again in 1729. It came under Zanzibar in the mid-19th cent. and passed to Great Britain in 1887. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate from 1887 to 1907. In the 21st cent., the city has become a center of militant Islamism in Kenya. Of note are the remains of Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese in 1593–94. The city's extensive beaches and resorts attract thousands of tourists annually.

Mombasa

a city in Kenya on a coral island in the Indian Ocean; linked with the mainland by two causeways and a bridge. Population, 255,400 (1970, including suburbs).

A highway junction, Mombasa has a railroad station. It is Kenya’s chief port, handling 90 percent of the country’s freight turnover. There are food, textile, metalworking, cement, oil-refining, and metallurgical industrial enterprises. Among the exports are coffee, tea, petroleum products, pyrethrum, sisal, and cement. The Port Reitz airport is situated near Mombasa on the mainland. Mombasa is a seaside resort.

Mombasa

a port in S Kenya, on a coral island in a bay of the Indian Ocean: the chief port for Kenya, Uganda, and NE Tanzania; became British in 1887, capital of the East African Protectorate until 1907. Pop.: 828 000 (2005 est.)

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Words related to Mombasa

noun a port city in southern Kenya on a coral island in a bay of the Indian Ocean

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