Pate Island
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Indian Ocean |
Coordinates | 2°06′S 41°03′E / 2.100°S 41.050°E |
Archipelago | Lamu Archipelago |
Administration | |
Kenya |
Pate (Paté) Island (Swahili pronunciation:
Like much of the Swahili Coast, Pate's history was marked by a steady transition from agricultural communities in the early first millennium into a specialized, urban trading society around the 10th century, likely earlier. Islam spread down the coast from African Muslims in the Horn of Africa, helping to develop what would be known as the Swahili culture. Despite myths to the contrary, Pate was neither an Arab nor Persian colony, but an African town frequented by trading Arabs, Persians, Indians, and others. It was the centre of the Pate sultanate from the 13th–19th centuries. The Swahili port of Pate long vied with Lamu and Takwa (on Manda Island) for economic dominance of the area, and came into prominence around the 14th century. It was subjugated by Lamu, however, in the late 19th century. [citation needed]
Public transportation is provided by a few mini buses (known as matatus). The main administrative centre on the island, with the police station, is in Faza.
Faza
Faza was later resettled. The Portuguese in Faza constructed a chapel there, however, nothing remains of it. In the 18th century Faza again fell into decline due to the rise of Pate. The English Consul Holmwood visited the place in 1873 and found it "dirty and infected with diseases".[3]
Pate Town
The Pate Sultanate was a
Pate Town is situated on the south-west coast of the island. According to the Pate Chronicle, the town of Pate was founded by refugees from Oman in the 8th century. It was re-founded in 1203 by members of the Nabhani family, also from Oman. The Pate Chronicle also claims that in the 14th century, Pate was so powerful that it had conquered most of the towns on the Swahili coast.[5] However, recent archaeological findings (by Neville Chittick and later, Mark Horton) suggest that the references in the Chronicle to Pate's early history are wrong, and that the town is younger.
The 18th century was known as the "Golden Age of Pate", when the town was at its height of powers and also prospered in fine arts. Builders constructed some of the finest houses on the Swahili coast, with extensive elaborate plaster works. Goldsmiths made intricate jewellery, fine cloths (including silks) were made by Pate's weavers, and carpenters produced fine wooden furniture. The use and production of the musical instrument known as Siwa were most famous. Two examples of Siwas are held in the museum in Lamu.
Both men and women wrote poetry in the Kiamu dialect of Swahili. The Utendi wa Tambuka, one of the earliest known documents in Swahili, was written in the royal Yunga palace in Pate Town. The downfall of Pate town came as a consequence of continuous quarrelling/warring with its neighbours from the end of the 18th century.[6]
In 1811, two British naval officers, Smee and Hardy, visited Pate, and witnessed the infighting.[7]
In 1813, the famous "Battle of Shela" took place at Shela. This was an attempt by Pate, allied with the Mazrui clan from Mombasa/Oman, to subject Lamu. The attempt failed totally, and many were killed. Only a handful of people managed to return to Pate, and their losses were felt for years.[6]
Thomas Boteler, who visited Pate in 1823, described seeing the remains of a Portuguese fort, but said that the place looked otherwise poor.[8] The poet Mwana Kupona (d. 1860) also lived at Pate Town. By 1892, the number of inhabitants had fallen to 300, down from 7,000. Today, the town has recovered some. Agriculture is the main economic activity.[6]
Siyu
Siyu town is situated on the North coast of Pate island. As no major excavations have been done in Siyu, its age is not known, but it might date from the 13th century. Gaspar de Santo Bernadino visited the town in 1606, and stated that it was the largest town on the island.[9]
Siyu's main claim to historical fame is that it through several battles withstood the Sultans of
In 1845 Siyu gave Seyyid Said one of his greatest military defeats, in this battle the famous Amir Hemed was killed and was buried in Rasini where his grave exists to date. Seyyid Said used to pay tribute to his grave at Rasini every year. It is believed Amir Hemed was very swift with his sword to the extent of stopping all arrows and spears shot at him in battlefield. The soldiers of Siu knew about this and during this battle two archers from the Siu army shot two arrows at him in one second targeting his armpit. When Amir Hemed swiftly lifted his sword to stop the first arrow the second shot his chest from the arm pit. It was a
When Siyu finally succumbed to Zanzibar's dominance, under Sultan Majid in 1863, it was one of the last towns on the whole of the Swahili Coast to do so.[10]
Kizingitini
Kizingitini is situated on the North coast (east of Faza) and is the largest fishing port on the island. Lying slightly north of Rasini, the fishing port straddles 2° 4'11.90"S and 41° 8'29.92"E, and is the southern reach of the Kizingitini-Kiunga Spiny lobster fishery.
Shanga
Shanga is an important archaeological site, situated on the South-East coast of the island. It was excavated during an eight-year period, starting in 1980. The earliest settlement was dated to the 8th century, and the conclusion drawn from archaeological evidence (locally minted coins, burials) indicate that a small number of local inhabitants were Muslim, probably from the late 8th century onwards, and at least from the early ninth.[11] The excavations also revealed a major break in the development of Shanga in the mid or late 11th century, with the destruction and the rebuilding of the Friday Mosque[12] Horton relates this to the writing of the historian João de Barros, about members of an Arab tribe, generally believed to be Qarmatians, who arrived at the Swahili coast. De Barros connects these new arrivals with a republican style of government.[13][14]
Shanga was abandoned between 1400–1425; the event was recorded in both the History of Pate and in oral tradition. The Washanga ("the people of Shanga") consist of a clan who still live in the nearby Swahili town of Siyu.[15] Rezende's description of Siyu in 1634 states that "the kingdom of Sio has no king but is ruled by governors"[16]
Evidence of Chinese exploration
In 1999,
See also
- Scientific Adam
- Witu Sultanate
References
- ISBN 978-975-428-365-5, p. 101-106.
- ^ Martin, 1973, p.6
- ^ Martin, 1973, p.22
- ^ Tolmacheva, Marina; Introduction; "The Pate Chronicle"; East Lansing: Michigan State University Press; 1993; p. 5
- ^ KNAPPERT, J. (1992). A SHORT HISTORY OF ZANZIBAR. Annales Aequatoria, 13, 15-37. Retrieved April 21, 2021, Via JSTOR
- ^ a b c Martin, 1973, pp.25-26
- ^ Burton, 1872, pp. 475 −480
- ^ Boteler, 1835, p. 373 ff
- ^ Martin, 1973, p.23
- ^ Martin, 1973, p.23-24
- ^ Horton, 1996, p. 421
- ^ Horton, 1996, p.425
- ^ Horton, 1996, p.426
- ^ de Barros, 1778, pp. 22, 29
- ^ Brown 1985, 67, 71, quoted in Horton, 1996, p.5
- ^ Freeman-Grenville 1962, 181, quoted in Horton, 1996, p.426
- ^ 1492: The Prequel, Nicholas D. Kristof, 6 June 1999, New York Times
- ^ Ancient Chinese Explorers, by Evan Hadingham
- ^ Frank Viviano (July 2005). "China's Great Armada, Admiral Zheng He". NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. p. 6. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
Bibliography
- Boteler, Thomas (1835). Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery to Africa and Arabia: performed in His Majesty's ship Leven and Barracouta from 1821 to 1826. Vol. 1. R. Bentley. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- Burton, Richard Francis (1872). Zanzibar: city, island, and coast. Vol. 2. London: Tinsley brothers.
- Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and Esmond Bradley Martin: Quest for the Past. An historical guide to the Lamu Archipelago. 1973.
- ISBN 1-872566-09-X
See also
Further reading
- Allen, J. de V. (1979) Siyu in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Transafrican journal of History 8 (2), pp. 1–35,
- Allen, James de Vere: Lamu, with an appendix on Archaeological finds from the region of Lamu by H. Neville Chittick. Nairobi: Kenya National Museums.
- Stanley, Henry Edward John (1866). A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar: In the Beginning of Sixteenth century by Duarte Barbosa. Printed for the Hakluyt Society. (from about 1517: p. 15)
- Barros, João de (1778): Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto v.2 pt.1 Chapter 2: p. 15 ff (referenced in Freeman-Grenville 1962, 83–84 181)
- Brown, H. (1985) History of Siyu: the development and decline of a Swahili town on the northern Swahili coast. Unpublished PhD thesis, Indiana University.
- Brown, H. (1988) Siyu: town of the craftsmen. Azania 26, pp 1–4.
- Burton, Richard Francis (1872). Zanzibar: city, island, and coast. Vol. 2. London: Tinsley brothers.
- Freeman-Grenville (1962) The East-African coast: select documents from the first to the earlier nineteenth century. London: Oxford University Press.
- Kirkman, James: Men and Monuments on the East African Coast .
- King'ei Kitula: Mwana Kupona: Poetess from Lamu, ISBN 9966-951-05-9, Sasa Sema Publications, 2000.
- Strandes, Justus: The Portuguese Period in East Africa.
- Tolmacheva, Marina; Weiler, Dagmar (translator): The Pate Chronicle: Edited and Translated from Mss 177, 321, 344, and 358 of the Library of the University of Dar Es Salaam (African Historical Sources) ISBN 0-87013-336-5
- Werner, A; Hichens, W: The Advice of Mwana Kupona upon The Wifely Duty, Azania Press, 1934.