Trade Zenith of the Kilwa Sultanate (1270s)

Name: Trade Zenith of the Kilwa Sultanate (1270s)
Start: 1271
End: 1280

Type Event Region East Africa Time 1271–1280

In the 1270s, the Kilwa Sultanate on the Swahili Coast of East Africa used Indian Ocean monsoon routes to transship inland gold, ivory, and slaves to…

Timeline

1271–1275Kilwa Port · TanzaniaThe Kilwa Sultanate controlled a chain of ports from Sofala to Pemba Island; Arab and Persian merchants arrived with the southwest monsoon, exchanging cotton cloth, glass beads, and metalware for gold and ivory, forming a stable Indian Ocean trade cycle.
1275–1280Sofala · MozambiqueThe sultanate acquired gold from the Zimbabwe Plateau at southern ports such as Sofala, minted it into coins at Kilwa, and re-exported it to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf; the gold coins became an important medium of circulation in the thirteenth-century Indian Ocean, demonstrating East Africa's commercial influence.

Sources

Kilwa Kisiwani: An Archaeological and Historical Study — Mark Horton (1996)
The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800–1500 — Derek Nurse and Thomas Spear (1985)