The Portuguese needed a permanent base on the East African coast, something that would make their presence impossible to ignore or remove. In 1593, they began construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa. They called in Italian architects and built a fortress unlike anything the coast had ever seen. Walls three metres thick. Bastions at each corner. A design meant to hold a city in submission for centuries. Today Fort Jesus stands as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its walls still telling the story of every empire that tried to own the Kenyan coast.