March 11, 1867.
Mombasa was one of the only ports in East Africa that stood alongside Dar es Salaam in fame. Arabs had built this port in the eleventh century.
Now, with the signing of the East-Zanzibar Treaty, Mombasa, the Sultanate of Zanzibar's second most important port, had also fallen into the hands of the East African colony. To improve Port Mombasa's operational capacity, the East African Colonial Government began renovating the port's infrastructure.
Today, Mombasa's highest temperature was 33 degrees Celsius, while its lowest was 22 degrees Celsius.
Working at the port during the day was somewhat stifling, but still within tolerable limits.
Colonial soldiers were directing black slaves as they pushed wheelbarrows back and forth through the port district, carrying sand and gravel. The dredging of the harbor area was also entirely handled by black slaves.
These black slaves were all assets of the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Since the colonial handover had not yet been completed, they had been temporarily requisitioned by the East African colony.
Apart from the soldiers supervising the port's renovation and the black slaves, most of the rest were Chinese workers and immigrants from the Austrian Empire.
To renovate and repair Mombasa, this important port city, the Mombasa government of the East African colony had brought out its cement reserves.
At present, the colony's cement still had to be shipped from Europe, so supplies were limited.
On the docks, Mitrovic, an immigrant from the Austrian Empire, was directing the workers under him as they constructed buildings along the wharf.
Mitrovic was a Yugoslavian farmer from the southern Austrian Empire. The good thing about this fellow was that he had attended school for two years and had helped build the church in his hometown. Thus, the Mombasa Colonial Government had appointed him foreman to direct