Decline of the Kilwa Sultanate

Name: Decline of the Kilwa Sultanate
Start: 1515

Type Event Region East Africa Time 1515

By around 1515, the Kilwa Sultanate on the Swahili Coast of East Africa was in steady decline under the dual pressures of Portuguese military strikes…

Timeline

1515Kilwa port · TanzaniaPortuguese merchant ships and fortress networks cut off Kilwa's traditional trade; pepper, ivory, and slave trading shifted to Mombasa and other Portuguese-controlled or Portuguese-influenced ports, and Kilwa's customs revenue shrank sharply.
1515–1520Ports of the Swahili Coast · KenyaVassal ports such as Sofala and Mombasa no longer owed loyalty to the Sultan of Kilwa; local chiefs concluded separate treaties with the Portuguese, Kilwa's central authority became nominal only, and the Swahili city-state network tended toward division.

Sources

Kilwa Kisiwani https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1441/
The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800-1500 — Thomas Spear (2000)