SocietySub-Saharan Africa
The Swahili coast
Stone towns with Chinese porcelain set into the walls
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Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa in 1331 and called it one of the most beautiful cities he had seen. Chinese porcelain is set into tombstones as ornament, showing how unremarkable long-distance trade had become. The towns were independent and rival, not one realm — and were broken one by one by the Portuguese after 1500.
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Along the East African coast, trading towns such as Kilwa and Mombasa grew up. They exchanged gold, ivory and iron for textiles and porcelain from India and China. Swahili is a Bantu language with many Arabic loanwords — the language that trade created.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org