MC_A Concise History of Africa

EAST AFRICA

The Swahili Civilization and Coastal Trade Monsoon wind patterns facilitated trade across the Indian Ocean, carrying vessels from Africa to the Gulf, to India and back again, which led to the development of the East African ports. Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, was a development of the Bantu language with European, Indian, and Arabic influences. In 1000–1500, trading cities ran down the East African coast, from Mogadishu in present-day Somalia to Sofala (Nova Sofala) in Mozambique, which traded inland with Great Zimbabwe, while prominent ports were located on the islands of Kilwa Kisiwani, Lamu, and Paté, located in the Indian Ocean close to the southern coast of Tanzania. The Moroccan, Ibn Battuta, passed through Mombasa and Kilwa on his remarkable

Words to Understand Lucrative: Something that produces profits, money, or wealth. Missionary: A person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country. Sultan: A ruler of a Muslim country, especially of the former Ottoman Empire.

journey in 1331, providing the first accurate accounts of the flourishing Muslim cities of the Swahili. Kilwa (Quiloa to the Portuguese) dates to AD 800 and was a major center of trade, being the most prominent of about 35 trading posts on the Indian Ocean. It was important during the Shirazi dynasty of the 11th and 12th centuries, when a great mosque was

built under the rule of Ali al-Hasan, and trade connections with southern Africa and the Near and Far East were established. Kilwa was the major exchange point for gold, ivory, iron, and coconuts from the kingdom of the Mwene Mutabe, jewellery and textiles from India, and porcelain from China. The first gold coins struck south of the Sahara, after the decline of Axum, were minted here, one of which was found south of the Zambezi river. LEFT: Modern Mogadishu in Somalia was part of an ancient trade route. OPPOSITE LEFT: Kilwa Kisiwani was a settlement on an island off the southern coast of present-day Tanzania in eastern Africa. Historically, it was the center of the Kilwa Sultanate, a medieval sultanate whose authority at its height in the 13th–15th centuries AD stretched the entire length of the Swahili Coast. Kilwa Kisiwani has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. OPPOSITE: An early 20th century portrait of Pedro Ávares Cabral.

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