Season 6 Episode 12: Ibn Battuta’s Kilwa Vacation

Kilwa is brought to its knees by one final foreign invasion, which leads the island into an irreversible decline and the eventual dissolution of the sultanate. 

The Portuguese have conquered Kilwa. Let's see how much pain their victory causes them in the long run.

The Portuguese arrive in Kilwa. This should go well.

As my voice recovers, please enjoy this "from the vault" episode about Zengjiani, a famous East African traveler who reached numerous impressive destinations.

After decades of civil strife and conflict, a powerful leader finally emerges in Kilwa Kisiwani as the 14th century reached its climax. With the power of the sultanate waning, a powerful judge named Muhammad Al Kawab asserts himself as the true power behind the throne. The age of powerful monarchs is over, and Kilwa's era as an oligarchy begins.

Today, we enter into an age of transformation. For a prominent period in Kilwa's history, the city and its many satellites will no longer be under the reign of the centuries-old monarchy. Instead, a new apparatus of bureaucratic elites will begin to exert control over the state, and eventual make the monarchy little more than a shadow of its former self.

Urban sprawl and social instability leads Kilwa to develop a sister city on a nearby peninsula. Songo Mnara grows rapidly to become a major urban center on the Eastern Coast of Africa.

The great traveler Ibn Battuta arrives in Kilwa, and paints a tale of a country at the peak of its power, wealth, and prestige...but with a potentially bleaker future awaiting.

Every historic civilization has one or two famous leaders who rise above all others in their fame and prestige. Kilwa's most famous ruler was certainly Abu al Mawahib, the Father of Gifts.

The Sultanate of Kilwa influenced Zanzibar. Today, Zanzibar influences Kilwa back.