Classic Tana

Inhabitants. The following is relevant: "By the end of the fifteenth century, economic competition from other coastal towns had grown such that Kilwa's authority was recognized as one amongst many powerful towns. Kilwa now shared the revenues of its extensive tax system with Mombasa (da Silva Rego and Baxter v.l, 1963: 397-8). At this period, Mombasa had surpassed Kilwa in size and possibly wealth, with its population close to 10,000, while Kilwa reportedly contained only 4,000 inhabitants (da Silva Rego and Baxter v.l , 1963: 535, 537)." [Fleisher_Reid_Lane 2014]

levels. Inferred from research carried out on the Kenyan coast (outside of this NGA) and Pemba Island (which lies within the NGA). Adding the level of "capital" to schemes proposed by Wilson, Kusimba and Fleisher.
1. Capital
2. Large towns
3. Small towns4. Large villages5. Small villages6. Isolated hamlets
"A number of archaeologists have devised village classifications based on their physical features. Wilson’s (1982) study of Kenyan coastal settlements is the most often-cited attempt to address settlement patterns and the relationship between town and country for the Swahili, based on a database of some 400 settlements. He defined five types based on site size and the presence and amounts of stone (coral rag or limestone) architecture; these range in size from one to 15+ hectares, and from dispersed homesteads and hamlets with a single mosque or tomb, to cities with dozens of stone domestic structures, mosques and tombs.
"Kusimba (1999b: 119) has offered a four-part classification of villages: walled villages, closely built villages, dispersed villages and hamlets, focusing on differences in ‘availability of suitable land, space and security’. This typology draws on ethnographic understandings. My own research on Pemba Island used a typology that included fieldhouse, hamlet, village, small town and town (Fleisher 2003: 134–5). These distinctions were made based on both site size and the nature of the deposits, including field houses and hamlets of 1 ha or less, villages of up to 3 ha, and small and larger towns, greater than 5 ha in size. Only small and large towns included stone architecture." [Fleisher_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] "The rise of Tumbatu as its principal town in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is reflected in the site’s extensive ruins (Map 3, p. xxiv; Horton in press). [...] The geographer Yaqut (writing c. 1220 ce) described Zanzibar as a centre of trade and Tumbatu as the new location of the people and seat of the king of the Zanj (Trimingham 1964)." [Fitton_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

levels. Inferred from the fact that one of the most prosperous towns on the Swahili coast, Kilwa, is known to have been ruled by a line of sultans, and that they were assisted by an amir and a wazir, which also suggests the existence of one or two additional levels of intermediary administrative roles connecting ruler and subjects. Note, however, that Kilwa happens to be one of the better-studied towns in this era, and that the administrative organization of other towns may have differed in significant respects. In any case, regarding the sultans of Kilwa: "Beginning in the mid-thirteenth century, Kilwa had settled into a pattern of success, led by an apparently powerful and successful Sultanate. [...] At the beginning of the fourteenth century, an apparent coup occurred at Kilwa. It left in its wake a new dynasty of rulers, known in the Chronicles as the Mahdali, initiated by one al-Hasan bin Talut. [...] Two generations later, the Mahdali still retained their hold on Kilwa and the Sultanate was held by al-Hasan bin Sulaiman, bin Talut's grandson and perhaps the best known Sultan of Kilwa before the arrival of the Portuguese. Al-Hasan is well documented in the Kilwa Chronicles and is one of the few figures independently verified by another historical source-Ibn Battuta's account of his visit to Kilwa in 1331. [...] The same successes that established the Sultan as an authoritarian ruler of Kilwa also created a wealthy extended royal family and sizable merchant class. By the late fourteenth to early fifteenth century, these merchants and royals capitalized on the Sultan's loss of power and wealth and contested his authority. Notably, during this period, the positions of the amir and wazir, both counsellors to the Sultan (but not necessarily from the royal line), are more frequently mentioned in the Chronicles." [Fleisher_Reid_Lane 2014]

The following quote suggests that the professionalization of the military in Zanzibar began in 1877, meaning that the same might have been the case across the Swahili Coast more broadly. "While Christian converts in the Sultanate of Zanzibar were in a very difficult position which British protection could revert only with the utmost difficulty, for liberated persons an opportunity to raise one’s social status was to join the Sultan’s regular army. It was created in 1877 under the direction and command of a British officer." (Pawełczak 2020: 64) NB can no longer reconstruct the full reference!

The following quote suggests that the professionalization of the military in Zanzibar began in 1877, meaning that the same might have been the case across the Swahili Coast more broadly. "While Christian converts in the Sultanate of Zanzibar were in a very difficult position which British protection could revert only with the utmost difficulty, for liberated persons an opportunity to raise one’s social status was to join the Sultan’s regular army. It was created in 1877 under the direction and command of a British officer." (Pawełczak 2020: 64) NB can no longer reconstruct the full reference!

Mint. "The minting of coins on the Swahili coast began in the eighth century ce. Only some of the Swahili towns minted coins. Minting was dominated by Kilwa Kisiwani, but mints operated also in Shanga, Zanzibar and Pemba." [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] Note, too, the administrative complex of Husuni Kubwa, built at height of Kilwa's prosperity: "During the first half of the fourteenth century construction began on Husuni Kubwa (see Figures 2 and 3), a massive domestic and administrative centre located on a high bluff overlooking the ocean, approximately one kilometre east of the town limits . This contained a palatial domestic structure with stepped courtyards, ornate pools, and numerous rooms alongside an extensive administrative building with a great number of storage rooms (Chittick 1974: 174-195) ." [Fleisher_Reid_Lane 2014]

"With the Islamisation of the East African coast, a process that started at least in the eighth century, shariʿa gradually came to be applied alongside customary law and practices. Through travellers’ records, such as Ibn Battuta’s of the early fourteenth century, we know that Islamic courts have existed for many centuries on the Swahili coast. Due to the dearth of sources, however, it is difficult to picture the workings of these legal institutions. Our understanding of the application of shariʿa, pertaining to questions such as who acted as kadhi [judge], who litigated, and where and how court sessions were held, remains very fragmentary prior to British colonial rule, and BuSa'idi rule in particular. As Michael Peletz cautions in his study on shariʿa courts in Malaysia, references attesting to the existence of these courts tell us little about the extent of the kadhi’s interaction with the local population and ruler or the extent to which shariʿa was applied. When we visualise the kadhis in the precolonial period, we should imagine them working outdoors as well as at their homes rather than in an actual court building, with their main role being that of a mediator; only if all mediation efforts failed, would they issue a judgement. We also have to bear in mind that Islamic courts were part of a legal system in which tribunals applied customary law on a parallel level. Not surprisingly, there is no precise information available on how these tribunals functioned and interacted with the kadhi’s courts." [Stockreiter 2015]

"With the Islamisation of the East African coast, a process that started at least in the eighth century, shariʿa gradually came to be applied alongside customary law and practices. Through travellers’ records, such as Ibn Battuta’s of the early fourteenth century, we know that Islamic courts have existed for many centuries on the Swahili coast. Due to the dearth of sources, however, it is difficult to picture the workings of these legal institutions. Our understanding of the application of shariʿa, pertaining to questions such as who acted as kadhi [judge], who litigated, and where and how court sessions were held, remains very fragmentary prior to British colonial rule, and BuSa'idi rule in particular. As Michael Peletz cautions in his study on shariʿa courts in Malaysia, references attesting to the existence of these courts tell us little about the extent of the kadhi’s interaction with the local population and ruler or the extent to which shariʿa was applied. When we visualise the kadhis in the precolonial period, we should imagine them working outdoors as well as at their homes rather than in an actual court building, with their main role being that of a mediator; only if all mediation efforts failed, would they issue a judgement. We also have to bear in mind that Islamic courts were part of a legal system in which tribunals applied customary law on a parallel level. Not surprisingly, there is no precise information available on how these tribunals functioned and interacted with the kadhi’s courts." [Stockreiter 2015]

"With the Islamisation of the East African coast, a process that started at least in the eighth century, shariʿa gradually came to be applied alongside customary law and practices. Through travellers’ records, such as Ibn Battuta’s of the early fourteenth century, we know that Islamic courts have existed for many centuries on the Swahili coast. Due to the dearth of sources, however, it is difficult to picture the workings of these legal institutions. Our understanding of the application of shariʿa, pertaining to questions such as who acted as kadhi [judge], who litigated, and where and how court sessions were held, remains very fragmentary prior to British colonial rule, and BuSa'idi rule in particular. As Michael Peletz cautions in his study on shariʿa courts in Malaysia, references attesting to the existence of these courts tell us little about the extent of the kadhi’s interaction with the local population and ruler or the extent to which shariʿa was applied. When we visualise the kadhis in the precolonial period, we should imagine them working outdoors as well as at their homes rather than in an actual court building, with their main role being that of a mediator; only if all mediation efforts failed, would they issue a judgement. We also have to bear in mind that Islamic courts were part of a legal system in which tribunals applied customary law on a parallel level. Not surprisingly, there is no precise information available on how these tribunals functioned and interacted with the kadhi’s courts." [Stockreiter 2015]

"With the Islamisation of the East African coast, a process that started at least in the eighth century, shariʿa gradually came to be applied alongside customary law and practices. Through travellers’ records, such as Ibn Battuta’s of the early fourteenth century, we know that Islamic courts have existed for many centuries on the Swahili coast. Due to the dearth of sources, however, it is difficult to picture the workings of these legal institutions. Our understanding of the application of shariʿa, pertaining to questions such as who acted as kadhi [judge], who litigated, and where and how court sessions were held, remains very fragmentary prior to British colonial rule, and BuSa'idi rule in particular. As Michael Peletz cautions in his study on shariʿa courts in Malaysia, references attesting to the existence of these courts tell us little about the extent of the kadhi’s interaction with the local population and ruler or the extent to which shariʿa was applied. When we visualise the kadhis in the precolonial period, we should imagine them working outdoors as well as at their homes rather than in an actual court building, with their main role being that of a mediator; only if all mediation efforts failed, would they issue a judgement. We also have to bear in mind that Islamic courts were part of a legal system in which tribunals applied customary law on a parallel level. Not surprisingly, there is no precise information available on how these tribunals functioned and interacted with the kadhi’s courts." [Stockreiter 2015]

Inferred from the centrality of trade along the Swahili Coast at the time: "[T]hroughout the early centuries of the second millennium Zanzibar remained the gateway of the eastern African coast for an array of overlapping trade networks." [Fitton_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

Markets. Inferred from the centrality of trade along the Swahili Coast at the time: "[T]hroughout the early centuries of the second millennium Zanzibar remained the gateway of the eastern African coast for an array of overlapping trade networks." [Fitton_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"Copper coins of the Kilwa type were minted also in Zanzibar from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, and possibly in Pemba (Brown 1993; Wynne-Jones and Fleisher 2016). Kilwa-type coins were of a relatively regular size and weight, and were characterised by a rhyme between the two sides: the obverse affirms the ruler’s faith in Allah, the reverse has an epithet of Allah chosen to rhyme with the ruler’s name." [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

NB Kufic is an Arabic script. "Around 1100 the East African mosque assumes a standard shape and dimension, which seems to be associated with these “Shirazi” towns. [...] The clearest example of this type is the mosque at Kizimkazi (Figure 10.5), with its famous mihrab and inscription dating to 500 (1107) (Flury 1922; Horton forthcoming). Kizimkazi may well have been the legacy of a community that moved there from Unguja Ukuu, the major Zanzibar trade site only 15 km away. [...] The mihrab uses extensive panels and roundels of cut porites and inscriptions in a floriated and foliated plaited Kufic style. [...] The Kizimkazi mihrab stood alone, until the excavation of the central mosque at Tumbatu, which while dating to the fourteenth century had a rebuilt mihrab from an earlier structure (probably an unlocated “Shirazi” mosque somewhere in the town), which was found in fragments on the floor (Horton forthcoming). Like Kizimkazi, it too had a trefoil arch, Kufic inscriptions, engaged columns, arcading, and fluted apse." (Horton 2017b: 562-563)

Note the likely oral form of the Kilwa Chronicles which were eventually transcribed in the mid-16th century; however, oral traditions do not fit with our definition of "nonwritten records" (i.e. "Records that are more extensive than mnemonics, but don't utilize script. Example: quipu; seals and stamps"). "The historical record relating to Kilwa is one of the richest for the coast. It includes both the indigenous Kilwa Chronicle and a series of mentions by visitors to the region. The Chronicle exists in three versions, roughly similar, the earliest of which was transcribed by João de Barros in 1552 (Chittick 1966). Before (and after) that time, it would have existed as a set of oral traditions, relating to various named sultans and their deeds." [Wynne-Jones_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

Presence of Islam as dominant religion suggests concomitant presence of sacred texts and religious literature, but few have survived from before the nineteenth century. The following quote specifically refers to the following periods but could likely be largely applied to this period as well: "There is a scarcity of textual Islamic material from the sixteenth, seventeenth and even eighteenth centuries. That said, there is every reason to believe that Muslims were copying not only the Quran and ḥadīth collections, but also legal texts, most likely the Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn, which was the most widely used legal text in the entire Indian Ocean basin. Its commentaries are also likely to have been in use." (Bang 2017: 560)

Presence of Islam as dominant religion suggests concomitant presence of sacred texts and religious literature, but few have survived from before the nineteenth century. For example: "The waters between eastern Africa, the Arabian peninsula and the Middle East have, since the introduction of Islam, been traversed by travellers who left their homes and went elsewhere in search of Islamic knowledge. This search was implicitly also a search for authority, as the traveller would return home not only with new skills (typically Arabic language and legal training), but also with newly acquired ijāzas (spiritual certificates, either linked to certain texts or to the recitation of certain prayers or Sufi dhikr). This type of travel, the riḥla, is also a literary genre whereby the traveller relates his encounters en route. The narratives of the encounters are hardly random, but rather structured to demonstrate that the narrator has learnt from the highest possible authorities. The genre itself is an old one in the Islamic world (Euben 2006: 34–45 and passim), often featuring the pilgrimage to Mecca as a ‘high point’ of the narrative. Clearly, this type of travel took place before the nineteenth century, and probably from the very early period of Islam on the Swahili coast. It is also very likely that individual travellers would write accounts of their journeys, if nothing else for their family and friends." (Bang 2017: 562)

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

Note that the oldest known Swahili history dates to a later period, was produced elsewhere on the Swahili Coast, and derives from older oral traditions: "There is one important exception in this documentary record, however, namely the so-called Kilwa Chronicle, which was composed in Arabic in the early (or mid-) sixteenth century at Kilwa itself and records, with what appears to be a fair degree of reliability, the dynastic history of that sultanate over several centuries, as retained in living memory or in older oral tradition" [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"[T]he indigenous residents of the coast during the Swahili Age (c. 800–1500 ce) [...] left no written records from the period." [Ray_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

Not mentioned in Karin Pallaver's [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] comprehensive account of currency used along the Swahili coast between the eighth and nineteenth centuries CE. However, Middleton argues that Swahili coins were often used as tokens: "A crucial aspect of these negotiations was that of the medium of exchange. Many Swahili kings minted their own coins, in gold, silver, and copper. Ten silver coins or one thosand copper coins were equal to one gold coin; the various coins were equal in value to those issued elsewhere in the Indian Ocean trading world by Egyptian, Arab, Portuguese, and other rulers. The coins seem only rarely to have been used as actual currency; instead they were used as counters or tokens, owned by the merchants and kept in safes in their houses. As counters, they were used during the negotiations to set values on the commodities to be exchanged." [Middleton 2004, p. 84]

Not mentioned in Karin Pallaver's [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] comprehensive account of currency used along the Swahili coast between the eighth and nineteenth centuries CE.

Not mentioned in Karin Pallaver's [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] comprehensive account of currency used along the Swahili coast between the eighth and nineteenth centuries CE.

"The minting of coins on the Swahili coast began in the eighth century ce. Only some of the Swahili towns minted coins. Minting was dominated by Kilwa Kisiwani, but mints operated also in Shanga, Zanzibar and Pemba." [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017] Note the following, however: "A crucial aspect of these negotiations was that of the medium of exchange. Many Swahili kings minted their own coins, in gold, silver, and copper. Ten silver coins or one thosand copper coins were equal to one gold coin; the various coins were equal in value to those issued elsewhere in the Indian Ocean trading world by Egyptian, Arab, Portuguese, and other rulers. The coins seem only rarely to have been used as actual currency; instead they were used as counters or tokens, owned by the merchants and kept in safes in their houses. As counters, they were used during the negotiations to set values on the commodities to be exchanged." [Middleton 2004, p. 84]

Coins minted in Kilwa. " The biggest part of the coins found in excavations along the coast are copper coins produced in Kilwa (Figure 40.1; Freeman-Grenville 1959: 255; Perkins et al. 2014). [...] Many of these coins have been found in Kilwa and Mafia, and a small number in Zanzibar and Pemba, some in Oman and one at Great Zimbabwe (Brown 1991). The circulation of Kilwa copper coins was limited and they seem not to have filtered into Indian Ocean markets in significant quantities (Wynne-Jones and Fleisher 2012; Perkins et al. 2014). This suggests a local use and is a clear indication of the connection between these coins and the authority of specific rulers, rather than to a universal standard of value (Wynne-Jones and Fleisher 2016)." [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

"It was, however, from the beginning of the nineteenth century that commodities such as cloth, beads and cowrie shells crystallised into a monetary form, and became part of a monetary system characterised by the adoption of standard units of currency (Pallaver forthcoming)." [Pallaver_Wynne-Jones_LaViolette 2017]

Suggested by the following two quotes. "Islam was unifying element in much of the Indian Ocean, especially on both sides—the east African coast and the Malay world. The east African societies relied on Islam to help create their world since their identity derived not only from commercial links with co-religionists but on specific modes of social and commercial behavior. The Muslim religion gave prescriptions as to everyday conduct. The Koran had specific admonitions on fair practice in the market place. The Koranic injunction to have balance scales led to the appearance of a market inspector called the muhtash whose specific job was to oversee local transactions and check weights and measures among other duties." [Rothman 2002, p. 80] "The " metical " was the gold standard on the Azanian coast at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese. It was not a coin, but a specific quantity of gold dust. Like all weights and measures its value varied from time to time and in different places, but it may be taken to have been worth about eleven shilling* and sixpence. This value is the average of a series of transactions referred to by Portuguese writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." [Pearce 1920, p. 62]

Suggested by the following quote. "Islam was unifying element in much of the Indian Ocean, especially on both sides—the east African coast and the Malay world. The east African societies relied on Islam to help create their world since their identity derived not only from commercial links with co-religionists but on specific modes of social and commercial behavior. The Muslim religion gave prescriptions as to everyday conduct. The Koran had specific admonitions on fair practice in the market place. The Koranic injunction to have balance scales led to the appearance of a market inspector called the muhtash whose specific job was to oversee local transactions and check weights and measures among other duties." [Rothman 2002, p. 80]

Suggested by the following quote. "Islam was unifying element in much of the Indian Ocean, especially on both sides—the east African coast and the Malay world. The east African societies relied on Islam to help create their world since their identity derived not only from commercial links with co-religionists but on specific modes of social and commercial behavior. The Muslim religion gave prescriptions as to everyday conduct. The Koran had specific admonitions on fair practice in the market place. The Koranic injunction to have balance scales led to the appearance of a market inspector called the muhtash whose specific job was to oversee local transactions and check weights and measures among other duties." [Rothman 2002, p. 80]