Swahili coastal trade network

Timeline

1. 900–1300Swahili Coast · Swahili CoastArab and Persian merchants used the monsoon winds to travel back and forth, and Islamicized trading towns formed along the coast, exporting ivory, gold, slaves, and timber, and importing cloth, ceramics, and metalware.
2. 1300–1500Kilwa · TanzaniaKilwa controlled the export of gold from the Sofala goldfields, re-exporting it across the Indian Ocean, and became one of the largest trading city-states in East Africa.
3. 1498–1540Mombasa · KenyaAfter Vasco da Gama's arrival in 1498, the Portuguese gradually bombarded and occupied some ports; in the 1530s, city-states such as Mombasa wavered between armed trade and the existing Indian Ocean networks, with some trade routes diverted or driven underground.
4. 1531–1540Malindi–Kilwa–Sofala triangular trade zone · Swahili CoastIn the 1530s, the ports still participated in the ivory, gold, and slave trades, but had to contend with the Portuguese captain-major system; Gujarati and Arab merchants partly shifted to Red Sea and Persian Gulf routes.