Question

Explain five factors that contributed to the decline of early city states along the Kenyan coast.

Answer 1

1. The city states lacked unity. The often fought each other for purposes of superiority e.g Mombasa and Malindi.
2. The arrival of the Portuguese in 1498 changed their fortunes in the Indian ocean trade.
3. Religious conflicts between the Christian new-comers and the Islamic coastal dweller greatly undermined the stability of the coastal towns.
4. The Portuese conquest of individual city states made them to decline e.g Pate, Mombasa, Kilwa, Mafia, Zanzibar, Sofala, Brava, Solotra, Lamu
5. Invasion of the coast by the Omani Arabs who conquered the resistant coastal city states.