Swahili: Did you mean...?

German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a colony of Imperial Germany from 1885 until 1918. The territory, much larger than Germany itself, covered what is today Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and part of Mozambique. As in many other European...

Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) was a Portuguese navigator who, in 1497-9, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa and arrived at Calicut (now Kozhikode) on the south-west coast of India. This was the first direct voyage from...

The Bantu migration from their origins in southern West Africa saw a gradual population movement sweep through the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent starting in the mid-2nd millennium BCE and finally ending before 1500...

Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city near Masvingo, central Zimbabwe which was inhabited between c. 1100 to c. 1550 (flourishing c. 1300 - c. 1450) in the region’s Late Iron Age. Capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe of the Bantu-speaking Shona people...

Peoples, cities and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods travelled ever greater distances by land, river and sea. Great cities arose thanks to commerce and international trade such...

Finding a maritime route to the East and gaining access to the lucrative spice trade stood at the root of the European Age of Exploration. However, when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Indian Ocean in 1493, he...

Between 850 BCE and 1600 CE, great civilizations thrived in Africa, yet few non-Africans have learned about them. While some may be familiar with the achievements of ancient Egypt, most of our knowledge of African history is tainted by the...

The island of Kilwa Kisiwani was one of the most important sultanates in the Swahili Coast trade network, linking East Africa to the Arabic world. For over 300 years, gold and ivory passed out of its ports, while Chinese silk and porcelain...

The ruins of the Great House, Kilwa on the Swahili Coast (modern Tanzania). Likely constructed during the reign of al Hasan ibn Suleiman (r. 1320-1333 CE).

The ruins of the Great Mosque of Kilwa on the Swahili Coast (modern Tanzania). Constructed during the reign of al Hasan ibn Suleiman (r. 1320-1333 CE).