Kilwa Kisiwani: The Rise of an East African City-State

Abstract

Stepping ashore upon the ruined site of Kilwa island in 1824, British official W. F. W. Owen sadly reflected upon the history of the East African coast: It is really melancholy to contemplate the devastation that the monopolizing spirit of mankind has produced on the east coast of Africa; wherever we went, even in the most obscure harbours, we could trace the remains of former wealth and civilization, contrasted strongly with present poverty and barbarism. The courage and perseverance of the old Portuguese must be admired; at the same time we cannot but deprecate that avarice which knew no bounds, but was constantly reducing thriving and populous countries to wild and desolate wastes (Owen 1833, p. 4). Owen's astute observations characterize the East African coast as it appeared in the nineteenth century; as he noted, the situation was far different prior to the European arrival. Long before Portuguese caravels rounded the Cape, the East African coast played an important part in the Indian Ocean trading complex. The littoral was certainly known by the people of Arabia in the eighth century before Christ. In fact, the ancient Southern Arabian state of Ausan traded extensively there and may have actually held a portion of the coast (Gray 1962, p. 11; Wainwright 1947). In later centuries, adventurers and merchants from far more distant centers began to traverse the Indian Ocean in order to reach the land of Zanj.