For thirty-three months, a small Portuguese garrison held Fort Jesus against an Omani siege. They were surrounded by land and sea. Disease killed them faster than the enemy. Food ran out. By December 1698, when the Omani forces finally broke through, only a handful of defenders were left alive. With the fall of Fort Jesus, two centuries of Portuguese dominance on the East African coast came to an end. The Omanis took control, and the Swahili coast entered a new chapter under the Sultanate of Oman.