In 1944, a soldier on Australia’s most remote northern coastline discovered a handful of copper coins that were originally minted in the medieval Swahili city of Kilwa, Tanzania, between 1150 and 1330 CE.
Strange how the Kilwa coins remain little discussed—aren’t they some of the clearest material traces of East African global reach in the early medieval period?
True, and there are other material traces; coins in India and Oman, pottery in Yemen, etc, not forgetting the historical evidence for Africans in all these regions
Wow how inspiring and fascinating to know just how far and wide our people have travelled the world against the odds 👏🏾🙏🏾🖤
Strange how the Kilwa coins remain little discussed—aren’t they some of the clearest material traces of East African global reach in the early medieval period?
True, and there are other material traces; coins in India and Oman, pottery in Yemen, etc, not forgetting the historical evidence for Africans in all these regions
Indeed, taken together, they reveal what the record too often overlooks: Africans were central to the Indian Ocean’s currents of trade and exchange.