Pate Island is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. It is the largest island in the Lamu Archipelago, which lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga in the former Coast Province. The island is almost completely surrounded by mangroves.From the 7th century, Paté island was an early site of Arabic colonisation. It long vied as a Swahili port with Lamu and with Takwa on Manda Island and came to prominence around the 14th century, but was subjugated by Lamu in the 19th century.Public transportation is provided by a few mini buses . The main administrative centre on the island, with the police station, is Faza.FazaFaza town, on the North coast, known by the name of Ampaza by the Portuguese dates back at least to the 14th century. In 1587, Faza was destroyed by the Portuguese as the local Sheikh had supported Mir Ali Bey, a notorious privateer who had earlier played a key role in ousting the Portuguese from Muscat. The Portuguese arrived from Goa with some 650 men on their punitive expedition, and unleashed their fury on Faza. Everybody they could find was killed, including the local Sheikh. The Portuguese preserved his head in a barrel of salt for display in India. After 4 days of looting they invited Fazas arch-rivals from Pate town to take away anything that they liked from Faza.