sultanate · Horn and East Africa
Pate Sultanate
Origins
The Pate Chronicle claims that the Nabhani family, once rulers in Oman, arrived on Pate island in the 13th century and took power by marriage. Archaeology shows the town flourishing by the 14th century, though the chronicle's early dates are doubted. From Pate the sultans gradually extended their influence over the Lamu archipelago and the mainland coast.
Rule and society
Pate was a merchant city ruled by a sultan and leading families, trading ivory, cloth and slaves. It submitted to the Portuguese for a time but backed Oman against them. In the 18th century Pate reached its peak, and its scholars produced some of the earliest Swahili written poetry, such as the Utendi wa Tambuka, composed in 1728.
Decline and legacy
Succession quarrels, defeat by Lamu at the Battle of Shela around 1812 and the rise of Zanzibar brought decline, and Pate came under the Omani Empire. In 1858 the Nabhani leader Ahmad Simba moved to the mainland and founded the Witu Sultanate.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Pate Sultanate paid tribute to Portuguese Empire1600 CE – 1698 CE
- Lamu paid tribute to Pate Sultanate1700 CE – 1812 CE
- Pate Sultanate was a vassal of Omani Empire1813 CE – 1856 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pate Sultanate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pate-sultanate
- MLA
- “Pate Sultanate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pate-sultanate. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Pate Sultanate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pate-sultanate.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pate Sultanate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pate-sultanate (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻