WITU, or VITU  , e, sultanate of East Africa included in the Tanaland province of the British East Africa protectorate . It extends along the coast from the town of Kipini at the mouth of the Ozi river (2° 3o' S.) to the northern limit of Manda Bay (2° S.); area 1200 sq. m . The chief town, Witu, is 16 m . N. of Kipini . The state was founded by Ahmed-bin-Fumo Luti, the last Nabhan sultan of Patta (an island off the coast), who was conquered by Seyyid Majid of Zanzibar . Ahmed, about IL3o, took refuge in the forest district, and made himself an independent chief, acquiring the title of Simba or the Lion . In 1885 Ahmed was induced to place his country under German protection, and in 1887 the limits of Witu were fixed by international agreement . In 1890 Germany transferred her protectorate to Great Britain . In the September of that year a British naval force under Admiral Sir E . Fremantle was sent against the sultan Bakari, who had succeeded Ahmed in 1887 and by whose orders nine German traders and settlers had been murdered . Disorders continued until 1894, and in the following year Omar-bin-Hamed of the Nabhan dynasty—an ancient race of Asiatic origin—was recognized as sultan . The sultan is guided by a British resident, and the state since the accession of Sultan Omar has been both peaceful and prosperous .

The

population of the sultanate is over 15,000; of the town of Witu 6coo, chiefly Swahilis . The port of Witu is Mkonumbi (pop . I000) .