East Africa, including Ethiopia
This text was originally written by the coordinator of the respective volume for the print edition as an introduction to the geographic area in question; the possibility of updating it was left to each author’s discretion. It should be interpreted together with the general introductory text from the respective volume.
ALTHOUGH THERE ARE FEW built remains of the Portuguese presence in East Africa, those that do remain, built between the 16th and 18th centuries, collectively assume their own distinct and original character, which can be seen in certain cases.
First, we will highlight the traces of the coastal military occupation from the 16th to the 18th centuries, particularly in the areas of the Islamic and Swahili cultural presence, with special reference to the fortifications at Mombasa and Kilwa, which prove their articulation with the Indian sub-continent; they stretch up to the Red Sea, to the region more controlled by Islam to the north, and can be found in rare traces left on the Island of Madagascar to the south. In effect, the sub-area of East Africa is, in geo-historical terms, a region of transition and connection between Portugal's East African domains (Mozambique) and those of Hindustan (Goa and its most direct spheres of influence). The relationships established with the Portuguese, intense in the 16th and 17th centuries, weakened gradually. Further to the interior of the continent, in Ethiopia, in a more or less isolated manner and within the context of the contacts with the Christian kingdom that developed in that region, we find remains of the Portuguese influence in military, civil, and religious architecture. As a specific theme, representative of the originality of this region (but also of the inherent problems), it is worth mentioning the remains of the so-called “Gondarian style', within its corresponding context, which remains open for thorough research. In terms of defining and categorizing the existing architectonic heritage in this vast area, we can consider three major groups.
One includes the works of military architecture from the 16th-17th centuries in the coastal and insular regions (Mombasa, Kilwa), which in some respects delimited the area's defensive borders against the Islamic influence in the more western and southern regions of the Indian Ocean during the expansion of the “Empire of the Indies”; it is worth noting two works in this group, Kilwa and Mombasa, that have architectonic features - the first one dates from the Manueline period and the other from the Philippine period - that place them in the most complex and elaborate level of Portuguese fortress art; this bastion-like architecture finds an homologous, strategic and contemporary continuation in the fortifications on the coast and coastal islands in the north and centre of Mozambique (Mozambique Island, Quelimane, Sofala), with the fluvial continuation of the forts on the Zambezi (Sena, Tete), as the coastal area of Indian Ocean that the Portuguese intended to control in the 16th and 17th centuries formed an indivisible whole.
Another group covers the works of a religious, urban and military nature in Ethiopia, where the Portuguese and Jesuit influence was more consistent and long-lasting (Gondar, Danqaz, Gorgora Nova and Guzara); the known buildings, either ruined, preserved or rebuilt, correspond to works from the 16th and 17th centuries. They stand for a mixed culture that incorporates western and classic influences with local traditions, the originality of which produced a particularly interesting hybrid result. The architectonic design and the execution of these works denotes a Portuguese influence, but in the background, as if through the “filter” of commissioning agents and indigenous artisans.
Another group includes simple remains, that is to say, remains significantly altered by the passing of the centuries (Marker of Melinde), or erased by the decay or physical alteration of their structures to such an extent (Fort of Tranovato, Church, Fort and Arch of Zanzibar) that it is hard to determine Portuguese influence without carrying out a duly planned archeological excavation.