Witu is a small market town in the
Lamu County
Lamu County is a county in Kenya located along the North Coast of the country and is one of the six Coastal Counties in Kenya. Its capital is the town of Lamu. It borders Tana River County to the southwest, Garissa County to the north, Som ...
of
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
,
East Africa
East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
. Formerly it was the capital of
Wituland
Wituland (also Witu, Vitu, Witu Protectorate or Swahililand) was a territory of approximately in East Africa centered on the town of Witu, just inland from the Indian Ocean port of Lamu, north of the mouth of the Tana River in what is now Keny ...
.
Location
It is west of the
Witu Forest. It is on the
Garsen–Witu–Lamu Highway (C-112) between
Mkunumbi, to the east, and
Garsen, to the west. A secondary road leads south to
Kipini on the coast. The coordinates of Witu, Kenya are: 2°23'20.0"S, 40°26'16.0"E (Latitude:-2.388897; Longitude:40.437769). The average elevation of the town is about .
Population
As of September 2013, the population of the town was estimated at 5,380.
Wituland
Witu was the centre of an inland empire of approximately . It was inhabited by slaves fleeing the Zanzibar slave trade, and was thus a target of attacks from the
Sultanate of Zanzibar
The Sultanate of Zanzibar (, ), also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was an East African Muslim state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Sultanate's territories varied over time, and after a period of de ...
, circa 1850.
See also
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List of roads in Kenya
The following is a list of the national roads in Kenya, under the jurisdiction of the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA). KenHa classifies International Trunk Roads as Class ‘A’ and National Trunk Roads as Class ‘B’. The list is not ...
*
Historic Swahili Settlements
*
Swahili architecture
References
{{Authority control
Swahili people
Swahili city-states
Swahili culture
Populated coastal places in Kenya
Populated places in Lamu County