Sultanate of Kilwa mints its first copper coins

1308

On the coral island off the Swahili coast, Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman issued copper falus for local trade while gold flowed north to Arabia. Kilwa's stone mosques and palace at Husuni Kubwa rivaled anything in the Indian Ocean world, its merchants dealing in ivory, gold dust, and enslaved people. The coinage marked the sultanate's commercial confidence at its zenith.