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The Sack of Kilwa (Portuguese: Saque de Quiloa) was a military campaign carried out by the Portuguese on 24 July 1505, led by Dom Francisco de Almeida, against the city-state of the Kilwa Sultanate. The operation resulted in a decisive Portuguese victory and the sacking of Kilwa, a prominent trading hub along the Swahili Coast .
The Swahili city-states were independent, self-governing urban centres that were located on the Swahili coast of East Africa between the 8th and 16th centuries. These were primarily coastal hubs, including Kilwa, Mombasa and Zanzibar, which prospered due to their advantageous locations along Indian Ocean trade networks, enabling interactions between Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
To the north, Kilwa's power was checked by the independent Somali city-state of Mogadishu (the once-dominant city, Kilwa's main rival) and the Adal Sultanate (the muslim Sultanate located in the Horn of Africa.). To the south, Kilwa's reach extended as far as Cape Correntes, below which merchant ships did not usually dare sail. [7]
By the 11th century, Kilwa, on the coast of modern-day Tanzania, had become a fully-fledged affluent center of a Muslim-governed trade in slaves and gold. [ 9 ] Exports of slaves to the Muslim world from the Indian Ocean began after Muslim Arab and Swahili traders won control of the Swahili Coast and sea routes during the 9th century (see ...
Kilwa was an important and wealthy city for the trade of gold and ivory. Because of trade, some of the people who lived in Kilwa had a higher standard of living, but many others were poor. The wealthy enjoyed indoor plumbing in their stone homes and the poor lived in mud huts with thatched roofs. [ 32 ]
As putative overlord of the Swahili Coast, Kilwa could probably close down all the Portuguese staging points in East Africa, including the all-important Mozambique Island (the critical stop after the Cape crossing) and the attractive port of Sofala (the entrepot of the Monomatapa gold trade, which the Portuguese were trying to tap into).
City-states along the Swahili coast, such as Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Mombasa, thrived on the bustling Indian Ocean trade in gold, ivory, and slaves, in exchange for textiles, spices, and ceramics. The architectural and cultural heritage of these city-states, with their distinctive Swahili stone buildings and cultural traditions, reflects the deep ...
Kilwa had about 4000 inhabitants but its economic fortunes were on the decline. [1] Like most polities on the east African coast, Kilwa was an Islamic sultanate and the Portuguese were poorly received by the local elites. In 1502, the Portuguese reduced Kilwa to the status of tributary vassal.