Mombasa is Kenya’s second largest city and a sea port. Mombasa is Kenya's second largest city and also East Africa's oldest settlement. Roman and Egyptian adventure literature seems to suggest that the city is over 2500 years old. The Portuguese, Omani Arabs and British each had their share of occupation in Mombasa with the Portuguese being the first. Vasco Da Gama, was the first notable Portuguese explorer to land on Mombasa's shores. He had a two tier objective which was to spread the christian faith and to open up trading doors for the Portuguese. They mainly traded in slaves, and goods such as spices, cotton and coffee. Fort Jesus, a main tourist attraction in Mombasa was built as a result of their trading efforts. This Fort was used for protection against hostile locals, as a prison for slaves and goods storage. The Portuguese dominated trade in Mombasa for about two hundred years. The powerful Omani Arabs brought an end to their dominance. Lack of unity amongst the Omani Arabs resulted in their short lived dominance on the Kenyan coast. Primarily, the Mazrui Family and the Busaidi Family, the later having been in power then, began to attack each other and involved the British. The relationship between the Omani and the British crumbled following their differing stands on slave trade. Slave trade wa a booming business at the time for the Omani's and the British were totally against it. Travel by the local bus-taxis (Matatus) if you've got the guts for it -they're mini-buses that they shove full of people (literally). They're cheap (ask someone at the hotel what the going rate is) don't let them scam you. They are all over and in huge numbers, and they're licensed (stickers on the windshields). Taxis don't have taxi-signs on the roof, but license papers stuck to the windshields.