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Kilwa Sultanate Gold Trade
In the 1290s, the Kilwa Sultanate on East Africa's Swahili coast used Indian Ocean monsoon routes to ship gold, ivory, and slaves from the Zimbabwe P…
Timeline
- 1290–1295Kilwa port · TanzaniaGold from the Zambezi River basin and the Zimbabwe Plateau interior was transshipped via local caravans and intermediary ports to Kilwa, then loaded onto ships bound for the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gujarat, forming a stable seasonal trade rhythm.
- 1296–1299Coast of the Kilwa Sultanate · Swahili CoastKilwa drew enormous revenues from the gold trade through tariffs, warehousing, and its minting system; stone mosques and palace buildings expanded, displaying its status as East Africa's commercial hegemon and strengthening suzerainty over neighboring ports.
Sources
- Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast — G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville (1962)
- The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800–1500 — Thomas Spear (2000)