Zanzibar Trade in the 1320s

Timeline

1. 1321–1325Unguja Island · ZanzibarIn the early 1320s, Zanzibar's ports received large dhows from Oman and Yemen during the monsoon season; a mixed Arab-Swahili merchant community centered on mosques and trading houses organized ivory and slave trade, and dispatched caravans inland for resources.
2. 1326–1330Pemba Channel · ZanzibarIn the later 1320s, Zanzibar, Calicut, and Kilwa formed a triangular trade: Indian cotton cloth was transshipped via Zanzibar to the East African interior, while ivory and slaves moved south to Kilwa and onward to gold-producing regions further south; the archipelago maintained a relatively autonomous port status within Kilwa's tributary system.