This Article First Appeared In CNN On December 11, 2023
At the Old Port in Mombasa, southern Kenya, tranquil waters lap gently against the shore beneath the ghostly Fort Jesus garrison. Today, it’s a pretty and peaceful scene, but one that belies the port’s bustling colonial past. It was at this spot just over a century ago that the ancestors of Kenya’s successful Indian community first set foot on African soil.
They came in ships and dhows, having been coaxed here to build one of the continent’s great railways. As that railway – which was soon christened the “lunatic line” because of its high cost and the dangers faced by those constructing it – snaked through the country towards Uganda in the years that followed, so did the Indian community. The economic and cultural roots they laid down beside the tracks remain to this day.