KISMAAYO

also spelled Chisimayu, or Kismayu, Italian Chisimaio, seaport, southern Somalia. It lies along the Indian Ocean, near the mouth of the Jubba River. Founded in 1872 by the sultan of Zanzibar, the town was taken by the British in 1887; it later became a part of Jubaland and was within Italian Somaliland (192741). In the 1960s its harbour facilities, mainly used in the banana export industry, were improved with U.S. aid. The town has a meat-processing plant. Pop. (1985 est.) 80,000.