A blog about African history, and heritage, through audio and video files.
Author: Dr. Y.
I am an African in love with the history of the world, and particularly that of Africa. I am a child of love, an artist, a scientist, a lover, a friend, a human.
I am in love with nature and beautiful things, art, history, geography, travel, dance, food, science, and technology, and much more.
To all around the world, I would like to wish a Happy Easter or happy renewal day. This is celebration of renewal, restoration, and re-birth. I love this idea, particularly when spring comes or when the new harvest comes. The flower below shows all of it: it is slightly drooping on the sides, but still budding; it shows promises and life with its vibrant colors. This is the same for each one of us: a new day has arrived, a new dawn, a new chance at life; and this day is a gift, an opportunity to do right, to live life to its fullest, a new page. Enjoy! Happy Easter! Happy renewal!
Have you ever wondered about the origin of the name of Kenya‘s oldest and biggest port city? Why? I am talking about Mombasa of course, the coastal and beautiful city of Mombasa; the city visited by the famous Moroccan scholar and traveller Ibn Battuta in 1331, as well as the great Chinese navigator Zheng He in the 1413.
Moi Avenue with its tusks, Mombasa today
The earliest recorded mention of Mombasa is in the works of Diogenes, a Greek merchant in the First Century (supported by Ptolemy). Diogenes reported that he had been blown off course from his usual route to India, ending up in a port town he called Rhapta. Rhapta has never been conclusively identified, but Roman coins have been found on several islands that were part of, or near, what became the Sultanate of Zanzibar, of which Mombasa was a core town. In 1151, the Arab geographer Al Idrisi described it as prosperous trading town. Other pioneers of maritime exploration also visited Mombasa, including the Portuguese Vasco da Gama (1498), Pedro Álvares Cabral (1500) João da Nova (1505) and Afonso de Albuquerque (1507). 16th-century Portuguese voyager Duarte Barbosa claimed, “[Mombasa] is a place of great traffic and has a good harbor in which there are always moored small craft of many kinds and also great ships,…”
View of Old Town Mombasa (Wikipedia)
The island was first referred to as Manbaçaor Manbasain 1502, when the Sultanate became autonomous from Kilwa Kisiwani. Manbasais the Arabic form of the Kiswahili name, Mvita, derived from Shehe Mvita, the founding father of the island city (not sure how Mvita made it into Manbasa – another case of a foreigner playing with phonetics, i.e. not hearing well). It is also known as the “Island of Mvita.” Some sources claim that Mvitais actually derived from Mombasa’s violent history over the centuries. The history supposedly earned the city the Kiswahili nickname “Kisiwa Cha Mvita”, or the “Island of War”.
Map of Kenya with Nairobi and Mombasa
Most European travelers referred to it as Mombaz or close forms of the word. While it was a British Protectorate for 2 years between 1824 and 1826, Mombasa was turned over fully to the British Imperial East African Company in 1898. The Sultan of Zanzibar officially leased the town to the British government in 1895 as a follow-up to an 1885 agreement. Mombasa became the capital of the Protectorate of Kenya sometimes between 1887 and around 1906 until Kenya’s capital was moved to Nairobi around 1906. Technically, and legally, the coastal strip that is today the Kenyan coastline remained part of Zanzibar until it was ceded to independent Kenya in 1963.
Nyali beach in Mombasa (Wikipedia)
The town of Mombasa is centered on Mombasa Island, but extends to the mainland via two creeks, Port Reitz in the south, and Tudor Creek in the north. Today as always, Mombasa is a major trade center, and home to Kenya’s only large seaport. Because of its proximity to Zanzibar, Nairobi and the Indian subcontinent, Mombasa is a melting pot of diverse cultures and people. It is the center of the coastal tourism in Kenya. Enjoy this great video on Mombasa, the city of Mvita, named after its great leader and founding father.
Tomber du lit / Falling from bed (source: spacegeek.fr)
Un fou tombe de son lit pendant qu’il dormait. Surpris, il se lève et se couche à nouveau. 30 minutes plus tard, il tombe encore à la même place. Heureux, il dit : « tchiééé !! Donc si je ne m’étais pas levé tout à l’heure, j’allais tomber sur moi-même. »
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A madman falls from his bed while asleep. Astonished, he stands up and goes back to sleep. 30 minutes later, he falls again in the same place. Happy, he exclaims, “Kaï!! So if I had not woken up earlier on, I would have fallen on myself!”
Le panier du pecheur sent toujours le poisson(Proverbe Baluba – République Démocratique du Congo (RDC)). – Pas difficile de reconnaître les crapules; la caque sent toujours le hareng.
The fisherman’s basket always smell of fish(Baluba proverb – Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)).- It is not difficult to recognize villains; the keg always smells of herring.
Originally posted on Good Black News.
Very happy to see the cover of Vogue Spain which claims ‘Black is Beautiful’ and to see model Aya Jones rocking cornrows (on a cover). See… this made me think of the poem ‘African Hair’ by Esmeralda Yitamben and its beauty, the photographs taken by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere of different African hairstyles posted on my blog recently. Enjoy!
For today, in celebration of millions, and billions of women out there, I choose to re-post this poem which always stood on the door to my Mother’s office for many years. This poem, “WOMAN” is from Gold Touch International, and was originally posted on March 8th, 2012 on Afrolegends. Enjoy, and yes salute all the strong women in your lives.
Ghanaian social entrepreneur Mabel Suglo is the co-founder of the Eco-ShoesProject, an initiative that assists artisans with disabilities to create marketable shoes from used tires and recycled African fabric. Started in 2013, the company currently employs 13 people. Her company is based in Kumasi, Ghana. It employs local able as well as artisans with disabilities to make shoes, bags, and accessories.
“There are millions of discarded car tyre stockpiles and waste materials in Ghana which pose an environmental and health hazard,” explains Suglo. “Eco-Shoes rescues some of the millions of tyres and other materialwaste creating an environmental nuisance, to make fashionable and comfortable shoes.” She, and two of her friends were inspired to start the business to challenge local perceptions of disabled people as burdens to society.
Last year, one journalist made fun of actress Zendaya’s hair because she wore dreadlocks to the red carpet; this reminded me of when Viola Davis had sported a short ‘afro’ to the Oscars … as if it was wrong for a Black woman to wear her hair in natural hairstyles. Why should an African woman be made to conform to something she is not? What is wrong with wearing our hair the way God made it?Without the relaxers, and perms made to straighten or rather beat the African-ness out? Every style should be celebrated.Our cultures are so unique… and the way we dress our hair is so unique, and should be loved and appreciated for what it is, a definition of who we are.
Viola Davis (Wikipedia)
It is high time, African women accept, appreciate, and embrace their heritage. It is impossible to beat the Afro out of oneself… just embrace it, and wear it as a peacock wears its feathers … with great pride! The poem below “African Hair” by Esmeralda Yitamben just says it all, and as I read it, I am proud to be African, born with this amazing hair. The author writes about the versatility of the African (Afro) hair, its beauty, its abundance, its richness, its kinkiness, and yes, its unruliness as well. True, I do not agree with the author’s mention of relaxers, but hey… every style should be valued. The original poem can be found on Kalaharireview.com. Enjoy! (The BBC also did a piece on Afro hair).
‘African Hair’
Kinky hair,
Picky hair,
Wavy hair,
Frizzy hair,
Hair the colour of ebony,
Sometimes sprinkled with hints of mahogany.
As splendid, lush, and full as the equatorial rainforest of Congo,
Woolen and soft like a sheep’s fur.
Shining with shea butter,
like a gem, under the moon’s smile.
O Sustaining Nature,
Blessed are our heads with beautiful hair:
Hair that can be braided, cornrowed, relaxed, and yes, even locked.
From Jamaican style dreadlocks, like Bob Marley’s hair,
To Jackson 5’s Afro,
To Maasai bald heads,
To Fulani princess corn rows,
To Bantu knots,
To Senegalese zillion braids,
To simple, hard-pressed, relaxed hair,
Precious Mother, Thou have blessed the Black race with a lion‘s mane.
For today, in celebration of millions, and billions of women out there, I choose to re-post this poem which always stood on the door to my Mother’s office for many years. This poem, “
African Heritage 