Kilwa is a small island off the east coast of Africa, part of what is now Tanzania. To distinguish it from the other sites named Kilwa, this island is referred to as Kilwa Kisiwani, which means Kilwa on the island. Its position in the Indian Ocean is just less than three miles off the shore of Tanzania, so it can be seen from the mainland. Kilwa's closeness to the mainland but the isolation of being an island gave this site an active role to play in world events from 800c.e. to the present.
There is no archeological evidence to provide information on the original occupation of Kilwa due to the extreme activity that took place there and seasonal monsoon-aided erosion. An account in the Swahili oral tradition states that people on the coast traveled to Kilwa seasonally for agricultural purposes.
The Island of Kilwa was reportedly sold to an Arab merchant by its original African owner. At first the local Africans and newly-arrived Arabs did not get along and the Arabs were forbidden from having settlements on the mainland. Through repeated exposure from trading as well as kinship ties due to intermarriage, the African and Arab peoples created an extremely prosperous trading port at Kilwa . Kilwa itself became an independent city-state under an Arab Sultan.
Many African resources flowed from the interior of the African continent to Kilwa through the Zambezi River region. Some of these items included gold, copper, iron, coconuts, ivory and rhino horn. Fine porcelain from China was available in Kilwa after changing hands in India and arriving with Indian products. The Africans of the interior desired the fine jewelry, glass, and cloth from India as much as the Arab, Indian, and occasional European merchants desired gold. Trade was such that it was not unreasonable for the officials in Kilwa to mint coins in several foreign currencies, and there was plenty of gold arriving from Mozambique to accomplish this. Goods from Persia were available. The city-state of Kilwa grew rich charging a tax for all this trading to occur.
Life on Kilwa was very pleasant during its peak, which was from the 1100s until the 1500s. The Sultan lived in a 100-room palace. The wealthiest lived in multi-level coral stone houses of Persian design. There were lush gardens with fountains and exotic animals imported from the mainland roaming free. The less affluent lived in traditional hut style housing. They attended Kilwa's cotton crop, which either raw or made into cloth was used to barter for goods and services. Most of the residents wore tattoos or some form of scarification on their faces, indicating that not all of the native traditions had been displaced by Islam.
Kilwa declined when the Portuguese arrived. At first, the Portuguese, under the leadership of Vasco da Gama, threatened to attack the city unless a tribute was paid. They eventually decided that they wanted Kilwa's prosperity for themselves and took the island by force in 1505. The Portuguese constructed a large costal fortress called Gereza. The island was under Portuguese control until an Arab mercenary and his men liberated the island in 1512.
Kilwa never recovered its former prosperity. The Portuguese still occupied much of the East African coastline where the raw materials came from. Trade dried up, and only slaves and ivory were circulating through Kilwa's port. Also the new Sultan made merchants sign an oath to only trade with Arabs and not Europeans.
Kilwa was a forgotten city-state for 300 years when Europeans began to fight over it as a military base. The French occupied it in the eighteenth century, and the Germans from 1886 until World War I. The city at Kilwa was abandoned in the 1840's.
Serious archeological investigation began in the 1950's. A lot of this work was done in libraries and European museums. Fieldwork on Kilwa was done on the Portuguese fort and Malindi, a mosque that had been built in the fourteenth century. The shore of Kilwa's city is lined with layers of pottery shards. There are stone foundations of houses and palaces. Kilwa Kisiwani was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.
Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on Kilwa Kisiwani.
Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL.
References:
Posnansky, M. (1966) Prelude to East African History. London: Oxford University Press
Oliver, R. (1968) The Dawn of African History. London: Oxford University Press
Pearson, M. N. (1998) Port Cities and Intruders. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press
Shinnie, M. (1965) Ancient African Kingdoms. Norwich: Fletcher And Sons LTD
Davidson, B. (1959) The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston, MS: Little, Brown and Company
Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P. (1965) The French at Kilwa Island. London: Oxford University Press
http://www.auhf.org/historicaltowns_kilwakisiwani.html
Written by Joseph Perkins, 2002