Kilwa emerges as Swahili trading port
1005
On an island off the Tanzanian coast, the trading town of Kilwa was growing from a Bantu fishing village into one of the ports of the Indian Ocean monsoon circuit. Arab and Persian merchants settled alongside locals; stone mosques would soon replace thatch. Swahili civilization was taking shape, and Kilwa's great mosque would eventually stand as the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
In context
Also in 1005 (5 other events on record)
- Treaty of Shanyuan ratified · East Asia · Politics
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Before and after in Africa
Before and after in Culture
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.