Kilwa & the Swahili Coast

Along the East African coast, a chain of Swahili city-states traded across the Indian Ocean with Arabia, Persia, India and China. The richest of them was Kilwa, built on an island off the coast of what is now Tanzania.

Kilwa's wealth came from controlling the gold that came down from the interior, the same trade network that fed Great Zimbabwe. Its rulers minted their own copper coins and built in coral stone, including the Great Mosque and the vast palace of Husuni Kubwa.

When the traveller Ibn Battuta visited in 1331 he called Kilwa one of the most beautiful and well-built towns in the world.

In 1505 a Portuguese fleet attacked and sacked Kilwa, and the city never fully recovered its power. Its ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.