Kilwa Kisiwani emerges as Indian Ocean entrepot

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On a coral island off the Swahili coast, the Shirazi sultans of Kilwa consolidated their grip on the gold trade flowing north from the Zimbabwe plateau. Merchants from Aden, Gujarat, and the Persian Gulf dropped anchor in its harbor, and the Great Mosque began its ambitious expansion in coral-stone blocks - a monument that still stands against the Indian Ocean wind today.