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KILWA (Quiloa)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 798 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KILWA (Quiloa) , a seaport of See also:German See also:East See also:Africa, about 200 m. S. of See also:Zanzibar. There are two Kilwas, one on the mainland—Kilwa Kivinje; the other, the See also:ancient See also:city, on an See also:island—Kilwa Kisiwani. Kilwa Kivinje, on the See also:northern See also:side of Kilwa See also:Bay, is regularly laid out, the houses in the See also:European See also:quarter being large and substantial. The See also:government See also:house and See also:barracks are fortified and are surrounded by See also:fine public gardens. The adjacent See also:country is fertile and thickly populated, and the See also:trade of the See also:port is considerable. Much of it is in the hands of Banyans. Kilwa is a starting-point for caravans to See also:Lake See also:Nyasa. Pop. about 5000. Most of the inhabitants are See also:Swahili. Kilwa Kisiwani, 18 in. to the See also:south of the See also:modern See also:town, possesses a deep See also:harbour sheltered from all winds by projecting See also:coral reefs. The island on which it is built is separated from the mainland by a shallow and narrow channel,.

The ruins of the city include massive walls and bastions, remains of a See also:

palace and of two large mosques, of which the domed See also:roofs are in See also:fair preservation, besides several Arab forts. The new quarter contains a customs house and a few Arab buildings. Pop. about 600. On the island of Songa Manara, at the See also:southern end of Kilwa Bay, hidden in dense vegetation, are the ruins of another city, unknown to See also:history. Fragments of palaces and mosques in carved See also:limestone exist, and on the See also:beach are the remains of a lighthouse. See also:Chinese coins and pieces of See also:porcelain have been found on the See also:sea-See also:shore, washed up from the reefs. The sultanate of Kilwa is reputed to have been founded about A.D. 975 by See also:Ali See also:ibn See also:Hasan, a See also:Persian See also:prince from See also:Shiraz, upon the site of the ancient See also:Greek See also:colony of Rhapta. The new See also:state, at first confined to the town of Kilwa, extended its See also:influence along the coastfrom Zanzibar to See also:Sofala, and the city came to be regarded as the See also:capital of the Zenj " See also:empire " (see ZANZIBAR: " Sultanate "`. An Arab See also:chronicle gives a See also:list of over See also:forty sovereigns who reigned at Kilwa in a See also:period of five See also:hundred years (cf. A. M.

H. J. Stokvis, See also:

Manuel d'histoire, See also:Leiden, 1888, i. 558). Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese navigator, was the first European to visit it. His See also:fleet, on its way to See also:India, anchored in Kilwa Bay in 15oo. Kilwa was then a large and wealthy city, possessing, it is stated, three hundred mosques. In 1502 Kilwa submitted to Vasco da Gama, but the See also:sultan neglecting to pay the See also:tribute imposed upon him, the city in 1505 was occupied by the Portuguese. They built a fort there; the first erected by them on the east See also:coast of Africa. Fighting ensued between the See also:Arabs and the Portuguese, the city was destroyed ; and in 1512 the Portuguese, whose ranks had been decimated by See also:fever, temporarily abandoned the See also:place. Subsequently Kilwa became one of the See also:chief centres of the slave trade. Towards the end of the 17th See also:century it See also:fell under the dominion of the imams of See also:Muscat, and on the separation in 1856 of their Arabian and See also:African possessions became subject to the sultan of Zanzibar.

With the See also:

rest of the southern See also:part of the sultan's See also:continental dominions Kilwa was acquired by See also:Germany in 1890 (see AFRICA, § 5; and GERMAN EAST AFRICA).

End of Article: KILWA (Quiloa)

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