THE KILWA STATE

Swahili Coast that stretched from Southern Somalia to Kenya, Tanzania (Zanzibar Pemba), Mozambique to Comoros.

The 9th Century Swahili city state of Kilwa Kisiwani, present day Tanzania.

By the 13th Century, Kilwa had become the most powerful city on the East African Coast, challenging the Sultanate of Mogadishu in Somalia, and exercising political and trading domination as far as Malindi in Kenya, in the north and the modern Beira in Mozambique in south. 

Its prosperity was based on control of Indian Ocean trade with Arabia, India and China, particularly between the 13th and 16th centuries, when gold and ivory from the hinterland was traded for silver, carnelians, perfumes, Persian faience and Chinese porcelain.

Kilwa Kisiwani also minted its own currency in the 11th to 14th centuries.

The outside world came to know Kilwa through lbn Batuta a Moroccan who had visited Kilwa in 1331, and described the city as "one of the finest and most beautifully built towns." The 9th Century Swahili city state of Kilwa Kisiwani, present day Tanzania.

By the 13th Century, Kilwa had become the most powerful city on the East African Coast, challenging the Sultanate of Mogadishu in Somalia, and exercising political and trading domination as far as Malindi in Kenya, in the north and the modern Beira in Mozambique in south. 

Its prosperity was based on control of Indian Ocean trade with Arabia, India and China, particularly between the 13th and 16th centuries, when gold and ivory from the hinterland was traded for silver, carnelians, perfumes, Persian faience and Chinese porcelain.

Kilwa Kisiwani also minted its own currency in the 11th to 14th centuries.

The outside world came to know Kilwa through lbn Batuta a Moroccan who had visited Kilwa in 1331, and described the city as "one of the finest and most beautifully built towns."

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