MR ALI BEY AT MOMBASA
By Daniel Karanja
AjabuAfrica.com,
05/09/2008, New Bedford, MA
The Portuguese in their exercise of power in East Africa dealt with the local people with a heavy hand. These people, who for the first few decades were no match for the Portuguese, quite understandably feared them and reacted accordingly. For instance, when Father Monclaro visited Kilwa in 1569, he noted how quickly the local people fled from the city upon learning of his (Father Monclaro) arrival.

Because of religious and age-old commercial ties across the Indian Ocean, word of the cruelty and heavy handedness of the Portuguese must have spread about and helped unite geographically dispersed people against a common enemy. Whether a request for assistance was made to the Ottomans or the Ottomans decided to attack on their own initiative is not clear.

They may have wanted to expand their own influence, they may also have been seeking to bring succor to the co-religionists in East Africa or perhaps meant to achieve both goals. Either way, the antagonism between the Portuguese and the subject population in East Africa was bound to involve other nations and independent entities.

In 1586 and in a sign of things to come, Mir Ali Bey arrived on a single ship in East Africa. He was from the Ottoman Empire and specifically from Yemen and this was not the first or last time Portugal faced him in war.   Though he is frequently referred to by western historians as a “Turkish corsair”, it is obvious that his actions both at Muscat and later on the Eastern coast of Africa had clear political aims.

In that year (1586), he raised such havoc raiding Portuguese possessions over the entire east coast that it unsettled Portuguese control from Mogadishu to Mombasa. He handed them a humiliating defeat with the assistance of local rulers on the East coast of Africa who were weary of Portuguese rule and looking for such an occasion to overthrow their overlords and were apparently only too glad to be of assistance to him. When Mir Ali was done, he counted twenty Portuguese ships to his tally and only Malindi remained loyal to and under the control of Portugal. He thereafter sailed away but even this was not the last the Portuguese were to hear of the name Mir Ali Bey.  

To chastise his accomplices and send a message to anyone inclined to help the Turks, the Portuguese sent to the East African coast a small armada that left Goa on January 9th, 1587 making straight for the East African coast. Commanding it was one Thomas de Souze Countinho. At Faza in the island of Pate, the sheikh was killed by the Portuguese; his head chopped off, preserved and carried away.  The ruler at Pate after repenting his assistance to Ali Bey pledged allegiance to the Portuguese and thereby saved his head and his position. At Lamu, the ruler was especially sought by the Portuguese because his actions had been particularly harmful to their interests. Knowing what his fate would be, he fled leaving the widow of the former ruler in power.

At Malindi which was at peace with Portugal, the Portuguese fleet spent some time probably replenishing supplies and relaxing the troops. With the sheikh of Malindi on board one of the vessels, they then continued towards Mombasa. Here the events of 1505 and 1529 were repeated.

After some initial resistance, the city was captured and the inhabitants fled to the hinterland. The ruler tried to sue for peace but under terms that Martin Affonso de Mello, the fleet commander, found unacceptable. At this point it was decided to leave Mombasa as it was and de Mello considered his primary task in Africa accomplished. He therefore sailed off to another assignment in the straits of Hormuz. But before leaving, he dispatched a vessel to Goa with the latest news and the head of Faza’s ruler “carried on a pole … in triumph”.

A ship called Salvador loaded with precious cargo bound for Lisbon had arrived in Mombasa in the meantime and for safety reasons the cargo was loaded onto other ships in the fleet with the intention of shipping it out at a later date. The concern was that a single ship stood a high likelihood of being attacked en route to Lisbon.

Towards the end of 1588, Mir Ali once again set off again for the East coast of Africa from the Red Sea and this time made his first stop at Mogadishu for supplies and assistance . He then sailed into Malindi one night with the intention of firing on the city early the following morning. However, the current Portuguese captain, Matheus Mendes de Vasconcellos must have received intelligence regarding his visitor for he had prepared a warm welcome in the form of strategically placed artillery for defense. These were then put to such good use that Mir Ali was forced off to look for easier pickings further south.

In the meantime, word of Mir Ali's arrival and activities in the east coast of Africa had been quickly sent to Goa and over ten ships with a tender were mustered and these weighed anchor from Kochi on January 30th, 1589. These reached Barawa on the Somali coast on February 23rd though a number were lost at sea.

It was while replenishing their water tanks later at Lamu that a message from Mendes de Vasconcellos was received urging the fleet to make all speed towards Mombasa where Mir Ali was then expected at any time. The fleet reached Malindi on March 3rd and was joined by two ships then at anchor there and afterwards sailed off towards Mombasa which by then had been captured by Mir Ali.

On Sunday March 5th, the Portuguese fleet finally arrived in Mombasa and the fight was joined. While the Portuguese fleet faced Mombasa from the ocean, the island town was also threatened from the mainland by a tribe the Portuguese called the Zimba and were thought to come fresh from sacking Kilwa further down the coast.

This enigmatic tribe had arrived in Mombasa earlier and desired to attack the island. However, the wall and other defensive measures held them back from the island. Two days later however, the Portuguese landed from the sea and commenced attacking Mir Ali and the Turks who were now therefore caught in a vice. Realizing that he could get the enemy finished off without too much fighting on his side, de Souze Countinho allowed the Zimbas to attack the now weakened island and they proceeded to do exactly that.

According to Portuguese accounts, most Turks preferred capture by the Portuguese to facing the Zimbas who were said to slaughter and eat their captives.   According to some accounts, Mir Ali Bey was killed in the fighting while others have him escaping to the Portuguese fleet to avoid the zimbas and eventually ending up a Christian convert in Lisbon. The sultan of Mombasa escaped to the mainland.

This brought an end to the Ottoman’s activities on the East Africa coast though the Portuguese obviously did not know this and would remain wary through out the remainder of their era. It also marked the end of Mombasa as an independent city state. Hence forth, it would be ruled in a condominium of sorts; by the ruler of Malindi (as a reward for his royalty to Portugal), the newly established position of a Portuguese captain at Mombasa and the local people whose independence was now seriously diminished. As a consequence of their wariness and due to their fear of a repeat of a similar attack, he Portuguese decided to consolidate and better protect Mombasa. It was against this background that Fort Jesus was planned and built to watch over the island. But this is another story all together better told separately.