Meet Yousuf ibn al-Hassan (c 1607 - 1640), baptised in Goa as Dom Geronimo Chingulia and later reverted to Sultan Yousuf ibn al-Hassan the last Swahili ruler of Mombasa from 1628 to 1632.
Yousuf was born in 1607 to the al-Hassan Swahili ruling family in Mombasa where his father was Sultan. His father resented Portuguese occupation and led several rebellions against the Portuguese garrison based in Fort Jesus.
Failing to defeat and capture his father, the Portuguese arranged for his assassination in 1614 and sent seven year old Yousuf to their Indian colony of Goa.
There he was 'converted' to Christianity and christened Geronimo Chingulia, given the Portuguese Princely title of Dom, educated in Portuguese language and groomed to be future ruler of Mombasa.
In 1628 the Portuguese installed and crowned young Dom Geronimo Chingulia Sultan of Mombasa with his seat at the Portuguese garrison at Fort Jesus under their close watch.
Dom Chingulia endeared himself to the people of Mombasa by commissioning grand public projects in roads, water supply and others, all financed by the Portuguese.
After consolidating his power, in August 1631 Dom Geronimo Chingulia caught the Portuguese by surprise, renounced Christianity, reverted to Islam as Sultan Yousuf ibn al-Hassan and ordered all the people of Mombasa to convert to Islam or face execution.
His troops ransacked the Portuguese garrison at Fort Jesus, massacred all of them and he established himself as an independent Sultan of Mombasa.
However the next year in May 1632 Portugal sent a strong military reprisal force from Goa, which retook Fort Jesus and overthrew Sultan Yousuf ibn al-Hassan.
Yousuf ibn al-Hassan escaped and spent the rest of his short but eventful life in the high seas of the Indian Ocean, as a buccaneer, former Portuguese educated Prince, former Sultan of Mombasa and eventually feared Pirate of the high seas where he died in 1640 aged 37. The last Swahili ruler of Mombasa.
* Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_ibn_al-Hasan
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