Watamu
Watamu is a small town located approximately 105 km north of Mombasa and about 15 km south of Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It lies on a headland, between the Blue Lagoon and Watamu Bay. Its main economic activities are tourism and fishing, the town has a population of around 1,900 and it is part of the Kilifi County. They are protected as part of the Watamu Marine National Park, the Marine Park is considered one of the best snorkelling and diving areas on the coast of East Africa. It is rated the third best beaches in Africa, for it crystal clear water and silver sand beaches, Watamu is home to the Bajuni people, who trace their descend to the intermarriages between the local Giriama People and the Arab traders. As at now, various tribes from inland Kenya such as the Luo, Kikuyu, Kamba and this movement has led to an increase in the population of the Watamu as earlier stated. A newly discovered species of the largest spitting cobra in the world was discovered in Watamu
Kilifi County
Kilifi County is a county of Kenya. It was formed in 2010 as a result of a merger of Kilifi District and its capital is Kilifi and its largest town is Malindi. The county has a population of 1,109,735 and it covers an area of 12,245.90 km2. Kilifi county forms a constituency electing a senator and a woman representatives of Kenyan Parliament. It elects its own governor who is the county leader, the county is represented in parliament by seven legislators, one woman representative and a Senator in senate. The county has 35 ward representatives, the county is located north and northeast of Mombasa. Kilifi has fewer tourists than Mombasa County, but there are some tourists beaches in Kikambala, Malindi and fishing are major economic activities due to its proximity to the Indian Ocean. The county has some of the best beaches and popular resorts, other attractions include historical sites such as the Mnarani ruins that date back to between the fourteenth and seventeenth century. Opportunities exist in agriculture, particularly dairy and crop farming thanks to fertile soils, the Kilifi County Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries is Mwalimu Menza.
The county had a successful cashew nut milling industry and opportunities exist in its revival. mambolook. com/kilifi
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 341 kilometres by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island and it is the headquarters of Lamu County and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lamu is Kenyas oldest continually inhabited town, and was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, founded in 1370. The town contains the Lamu Fort on the seafront, which commenced construction under Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr, the sultan of Pate, Lamu is home to 23 mosques, including the Riyadha Mosque, built in 1900, and a donkey sanctuary. Lamu Town on Lamu Island is Kenyas oldest continually inhabited town and it is believed to have been established in 1370. Today, the majority of Lamus population is Muslim, the town was first attested in writing by an Arab traveller Abu-al-Mahasini, who met a judge from Lamu visiting Mecca in 1441. In 1505, the Portuguese invaded Lamu, forcing the king of the town to quickly concede to paying money to them.
The Portuguese invasion was prompted by the successful mission to control trade along the coast of the Indian Ocean. For a considerable time, Portugal had a monopoly on shipping along the East African coast, in the 1580s, prompted by Turkish raids, Lamu led a rebellion against the Portuguese. In 1652, Oman assisted Lamu to resist Portuguese control, Lamus years as an Omani protectorate during the period from the late 17th century to early 19th century mark the towns golden age. Lamu was governed as a republic under a council of elders known as the Yumbe who ruled from a palace in the town, during this period, Lamu became a center of poetry, politics and crafts as well as trade. Many of the buildings of the town were constructed during period in a distinct classical style. Aside from its thriving arts and crafts trading, Lamu became a literary, woman writers such as the poet Mwana Kupona – famed for her Advice on the Wifely Duty – had a higher status in Lamu than was the convention in Kenya at the time.
In 1812, a coalition Pate-Mazrui army invaded the archipelago during the Battle of Shela, in fear of future attacks, Lamu appealed to the Omanis for a Busaidi garrison to operate at the new fort and help protect the area from Mazrui rebels along the Kenyan coast. In the middle of the 19th century, Lamu came under the influence of the sultan of Zanzibar. The Germans claimed Wituland in June 1885, the Germans considered Lamu to be of strategical importance and an ideal place for a base. From 22 November 1888 to 3 March 1891, there was a German post office in Lamu to facilitate communication within the German protectorate in the sultanate. It was the first post office to be established on the East African coast, today there is a museum in Lamu dedicated to it, in 1890, Lamu and Kenya fell under British colonial rule
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa and a founding member of the East African Community. Its capital and largest city is Nairobi and it is bordered by Tanzania to the south and southwest, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya covers 581,309 km2, and had a population of approximately 48 million people in January 2017, Kenya has a warm and humid tropical climate on its Indian Ocean coastline. The climate is cooler in the grasslands around the capital city and especially closer to Mount Kenya. Further inland are highlands in Central and Rift Valley regions where tea, in the West are Nyanza and Western regions, there is an equatorial and dry climate which becomes humid around Lake Victoria, the largest tropical fresh-water lake in the world. This gives way to temperate and forested areas in the neighbouring western region. The north-eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes, Kenya is known for its world class athletes in track and field and rugby.
The African Great Lakes region, which Kenya is a part of, has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic period, by the first millennium AD, the Bantu expansion had reached the area from West-Central Africa. Bantu and Nilotic populations together constitute around 97% of the nations residents and Arab presence in coastal Mombasa dates to the Early Modern period, European exploration of the interior began in the 19th century. The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, which starting in 1920 gave way to the Kenya Colony, Kenya obtained independence in December 1963. Following a referendum in August 2010 and adoption of a new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47 semi-autonomous counties, the capital, Nairobi, is a regional commercial hub. The economy of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East, agriculture is a major employer, the country traditionally exports tea and coffee and has more recently begun to export fresh flowers to Europe. The service industry is an economic driver.
Additionally, Kenya is a member of the East African Community trading bloc, the Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya. The origin of the name Kenya is not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu and Kamba words Kirinyaga, Kirenyaa, if so, the British may not so much have mispronounced it, as misspelled it. In the 19th century, the German explorer Johann Ludwig Krapf was staying with the Bantu Kamba people when he first spotted the mountain. On asking for the name of the mountain, he was told Kĩ-Nyaa or Kĩĩma- Kĩĩnyaa probably because the pattern of black rock, the Agikuyu, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Kenya, call it Kĩrĩma Kĩrĩnyaga in Kikuyu, which is quite similar to the Kamba name. Ludwig Krapf recorded the name as both Kenia and Kegnia believed by most to be a corruption of the Kamba version, others say that this was—on the contrary—a very precise notation of a correct African pronunciation /ˈkɛnjə/
Majid bin Said of Zanzibar
Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaidi was the first Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from October 19,1856 to October 7,1870, Majid became Sultan of Zanzibar and Oman on the death of his father, Sayyid Said bin Sultan, but his accession was contested. His marriage only produced one daughter, Sayyida Khanfora bint Majid, Majid was succeeded as sultan by his brother Sayyid Barghash. His reign was infamous in that he consolidated his power around the East African slave trade and his descendants would follow this practice. Barghash bin Said claimed to halt the trade, but he continued this until the United Kingdom gained protectorate over the colony. CSS Shenandoah Works written by or about Majid bin Said of Zanzibar at Wikisource
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in colonies of many identical individual polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans, a coral group is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is an animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening, an exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by reproduction of polyps. Corals breed sexually by spawning, polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon and these are commonly known as zooxanthellae and the corals that contain them are zooxanthellate corals. Such corals require sunlight and grow in clear, shallow water, other corals do not rely on zooxanthellae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3,000 metres.
Some have been found on the Darwin Mounds, north-west of Cape Wrath, Corals have been found as far north as off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands. In his Scala Naturae, Aristotle classified corals as zoophyta, animals that had characteristics of plants and were therefore hypothetically in between animals and plants, the Persian polymath Al-Biruni classified sponges and corals as animals, arguing that they respond to touch. The phylogeny of Anthozoans is not clearly understood and a number of different models have been proposed, within the Hexacorallia, the sea anemones, coral anemones and stony corals may constitute a monophyletic grouping united by their eight-fold symmetry and cnidocyte trait. The Octocorallia appears to be monophyletic, and primitive members of this group may have been stolonate, the cladogram presented here comes from a 2014 study by Stampar et al. which was based on the divergence of mitochondrial DNA within the group and on nuclear markers. Corals are classified in the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria and they are divided into three subclasses, Hexacorallia and Ceriantharia.
The Hexacorallia include the stony corals, the sea anemones and the zoanthids and these groups have polyps that generally have 6-fold symmetry. The Octocorallia include blue coral, soft corals, sea pens and these groups have polyps with 8-fold symmetry, each polyp having eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. Fire corals are not true corals, being in the order Anthomedusa of the class Hydrozoa, Corals are sessile animals in the class Anthozoa and differ from most other cnidarians in not having a medusa stage in their life cycle. The body unit of the animal is a polyp, most corals are colonial, the initial polyp budding to produce another and the colony gradually developing from this small start
Islam in Kenya
Islam is the religion of approximately 11.1 percent of the Kenyan population, or approximately 4.3 million people. The Kenyan coast is mostly populated by Muslims, Nairobi has several mosques and a notable Muslim population. The vast majority of Muslims in Kenya follow the Sunni Islam of Shafi school of jurisprudence, there are sizeable populations of Shia and Ahmadi adherents. In large part, Shias are Ismailis descended from or influenced by oceanic traders from the Middle East and these Shia Muslims include the Dawoodi Bohra, who number some 6, 000-8,000 in the country. Pioneer Muslim traders arrived on the Swahili Coast around the eighth century, archaeological evidence attests to a thriving Muslim town on Manda Island by the Tenth Century AD. The Moroccan Muslim traveller, Ibn Battuta, visiting the Swahili Coast in 1331 AD, Ibn Battuta said, The inhabitants are pious and upright, and they have well-built wooden mosques. On arrival, the Muslims settled along the coast, engaging in trade, the Shirazi intermarried with the local Bantu people resulting in the Swahili people, most of who converted to Islam.
Swahili, structurally a Bantu Language with heavy borrowings from Arabic, was born, Islam spread through the interactions of individuals, with the Arab Muslims who had settled in small groups maintaining their culture, and religious practices. Despite encountering local communities, Islam was not ‘indigenized’ along the patterns of the local Bantu communities, Islam grew through absorption of individuals into the newly established Afro-Arabic Muslim communities. This resulted in more ‘Swahilization’ than Islamization, there was strong resistance toward Islam by the majority of communities living in the interior. The resistance was because conversion was an act, leading to detribalization and integration into the Muslim community going against the socially acceptable communal life. Islam on the Swahili Coast was different from the rest of Africa, unlike West Africa where Islam was integrated to the local communities, the local Islam was ‘foreign’, the Arab-Muslims lived as if they were in the Middle East.
The primary concern for the early Muslims was trade with a few interested in propagating Islam, the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th Century interrupted the small work in progress. On the other hand, the quarrels that ensued meant that much effort was now directed towards restoring normality. Islam remained an urban and coastal phenomenon, the Spread of Islam was low-keyed with no impact amongst the local non-Swahili African Community. There were no intermediary Africans to demonstrate that, adoption of a few Islamic institutions would not disrupt society, the spread of Islam to the interior was hampered by several factors, for instance, the nature of the Bantu society’s varied beliefs, and scattered settlements affected interior advancement. Other factors included, harsh conditions, the fierce tribes like the Maasai, tribal laws restricting passage through their land, health factors. For Trimingham, the brand of Islam introduced to the region was equally to blame, Muslim traders were not welcome in the social structures thereby impeding any meaningful progress until the beginning of European occupation
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian and Point Lenana, Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, about 16.5 kilometres south of the equator, around 150 kilometres north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya, Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m high and it was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre, There are currently 11 small glaciers. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya, There are several vegetation bands from the base to the summit. The lower slopes are covered by different types of forest, many alpine species are endemic to Mount Kenya, such as the giant lobelias and senecios and a local subspecies of rock hyrax.
An area of 715 km2 around the centre of the mountain was designated a National Park, the park receives over 16,000 visitors per year. Mount Kenya National Park, established in 1949, protects the surrounding the mountain. Currently the national park is within the forest reserve which encircles it, in April 1978 the area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The national park and the forest reserve, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, the Government of Kenya had four reasons for creating a national park on and around Mount Kenya. Kenya’s government has announced a project to discourage animals from straying into small holdings surrounding the Park, the project will see the Park enclosed by an electric fence with five electrified strands and is expected to be completed by 2014. The fence will discharge an electric shock, but is not dangerous to humans or animals, the main ethnic groups living around Mount Kenya are Kikuyu, Ameru and Maasai. The first three are closely related and they all see the mountain as an important aspect of their cultures.
All these cultures arrived in the Mount Kenya area in the last several hundred years, the Kikuyu live on the southern and western sides of the mountain. They are agriculturalists, and make use of the fertile volcanic soil on the lower slopes. They believe that God, Ngai or Mwene Nyaga, lived on Mount Kenya when he came down from the sky and they believe that the mountain is Ngais throne on earth. It is the place where Gĩkũyũ, the father of the tribe, thus according to the Kikuyu records, Gĩkũyũ is the first person on Earth to ascend the mountain
Johann Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann and they were the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro. Krapf played a key role in exploring the East African coastline, Krapf was born into a Lutheran family of farmers in southwest Germany. From his school days onward he developed his gift for languages and he initially studied Latin, Greek and Italian. More languages were to follow throughout his life, after finishing school he joined the Basel Mission Seminary at age 17 but discontinued his studies as he had doubts about his missionary vocation. He read theology at Tübingen University and graduated in 1834, while working as an assistant village pastor, he met a Basel missionary who encouraged him to resume his missionary vocation. In 1836 he was invited by the Anglican Church Missionary Society to join their work in Ethiopia, Basel Mission seconded him to the Anglicans and from 1837-1842 he worked in this ancient Christian land.
He prepared himself by learning ancient Geez and the Amharic language of the highlands, Krapf managed to effect his escape with his servants, and made his way to Massawa supported by the reluctant charity of the local inhabitants. Thus he centered his interest on the Oromo people of southern Ethiopia, in his known as the Galla. He learned their language and started translating parts of the New Testament into it, in association with his colleague, Carl Wilhelm Isenberg, he published a memoir of his time in Ethiopia, Journals of Isenberg and Krapf in 1843. He revised Abu Rumis Bible translations into Amharic for BFBS, Krapf spent some time in Alexandria, where he married. From there he set off for East Africa hoping to reach the Oromo from what is now the Kenyan coast, most of the East African coastline was part of the Zanzibar sultanate. Sultan Sayyid Said gave him a permit to start a station at the coastal city of Mombasa. Krapf started again by learning the languages of the local Mijikenda people, soon after arrival in Mombasa his wife and young daughter died from malaria.
Krapf moved to the grounds of Rabai on the coastal hills. Here he wrote the first dictionary and grammar of the Swahili language and he started studying other African languages, drafting dictionaries and translating sections of the Bible. Working with a Muslim judge named Ali bin Modehin, he translated Genesis and he went on to translate the New Testament, as well as the Book of Common Prayer. However, most of this was unpublished, though it was used in revising a translation in a more southern version of Swahili
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum, called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a number in India. It is widely naturalized in regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds. The world harvested 4.2 million metric tonnes of seeds in 2013, with India. Sesame seed is one of the oldest oilseed crops known, domesticated well over 3000 years ago, Sesame has many species, most being wild and native to sub-Saharan Africa. Sesame indicum, the type, originated in India and is tolerant to drought-like conditions. Sesame has one of the highest oil contents of any seed, with a rich, nutty flavor, it is a common ingredient in cuisines across the world. Like other nuts and foods, it can trigger allergic reactions in some people, sometimes sold with its seed coat removed, this variety is often present on top of baked goods in many countries. The word sesame is from Latin sesamum or Greek sēsamon, it has derivation from Arabic semsem, from these roots, words with the generalized meaning “oil, liquid fat” were derived.
Sesame names vary among numerous languages, Sesame seed is considered to be the oldest oilseed crop known to humanity. The genus has many species, and most are wild, most wild species of the genus Sesamum are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Sesame indicum, the type, originated in India. Some reports claim sesame was cultivated in Egypt during the Ptolemiac period, records from Babylon and Assyria, dating about 4000 years ago, mention sesame. Egyptians called it sesemt, and it is included in the list of drugs in the scrolls of the Ebers Papyrus dated to be over 3600 years old. Archeological reports from Turkey indicate that sesame was grown and pressed to extract oil at least 2750 years ago in the empire of Urartu, the historic origin of sesame was favored by its ability to grow in areas that do not support the growth of other crops. It was a crop that could be grown by farmers at the edge of deserts. Sesame has been called a survivor crop, the flowers are yellow, tubular,3 to 5 cm long, with a four-lobed mouth.
The flowers may vary in colour, with some being white, Sesame seeds occur in many colours depending on the cultivar
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