Structures and Settlement Organization at Kua Ruins, Juani (Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania)

Abstract

The settlement of Kua in the Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania, has considerable research potential. It was surveyed in 2010 as part of a larger project to understand the maritime landscapes of the archipelago and elucidate the social context of maritime exploitation. The study provided the opportunity to examine Swahili architecture and settlement patterns during a period when Swahili engagement with the Indian Ocean world was in decline. The previous researchers in this region have often overlooked the settlements of this period, ca. sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, and have dismissed their architectural features as “uninspiring” (Chittick 1957, p. 3). This article offers a detailed record of the structural remains at Kua in order to facilitate a greater understanding of the historical and cultural place of the settlement within the wider Swahili world. The study also contributes to the comprehensive understanding of the Swahili built landscape and organization of space.