🏛️ Kilwa Kisiwani
Tanzania
About This Sacred Site
Kilwa Kisiwani, an island off the southern coast of Tanzania, was the center of one of the most powerful Swahili trading sultanates from the 9th to the 16th century. The Great Mosque of Kilwa, with its coral-stone domes, is one of the oldest surviving mosques in East Africa. The ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, include palaces, mosques, and a vast trading complex that once controlled the gold trade from Zimbabwe to the Indian Ocean world.
Key Facts
- •UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981
- •The Great Mosque dates to the 10th century and was expanded in the 13th century
- •Kilwa minted its own coins, the first in sub-Saharan Africa
- •Ibn Battuta visited in 1331 and described it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world
- •The sultanate controlled much of the East African coast and Indian Ocean trade
Location
Coordinates: -8.9573, 39.5232
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