Since 1981, the entire island of Kilwa Kisiwani has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the nearby ruins of Songo Mnara.

Despite its significant historic reputation, Kilwa Kisiwani is still home to a small and resilient community of natives who have inhabited the island for centuries.

[7] In 1331 CE, Moroccan traveller and scholar Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa and described it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

[2] Trade connections with the Arabian Peninsula as well as India and China influenced the growth and development of Kilwa, and, though there are Islamic words and customs that have been adapted to the culture, the origins are African.

For these to take place, there would need to be a form of political administration overseeing the city, controlling the movement of goods.

Among Kilwa's trade exports were spices, tortoiseshell, coconut oil, ivory, and aromatic gums, as well as gold.

The wealthier residents of Kilwa owned exotic textiles and foreign ceramics, though items such as luxury clothes are not preserved in the archaeological record.

Due to the impact the sea had on Kilwa, including marine resources and trade opportunities, the archaeological investigation of the harbors and ports is considered to be of high importance.

The topsoil that covers the limestone at Kilwa was of poor quality, and so food sources on land came from the areas of higher ground.

[13] Samples were taken from two boxes of human remains located in the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) in Nairobi, originally excavated in the 1950s and 1960s by Chittick.

The damage to the soil caused by rainwater wash is accentuating the risks of the collapse of the remaining structures on the edge of the cliff.

The vegetation that proliferates on the cliff has limited the progression of the rain-wash effect but causes the break-up of the masonry structures.

[15] The World Monuments Fund included Kilwa on its 2008 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites, and since 2008 has been supporting conservation work on various buildings.

The load-bearing walls were built with square coral limestone blocks, and three symmetrical entrances with vaulted ceilings provided access.

Uniquely for mosques in the area, the flat roof was supported by nine hexagonal columns made from single tree trunks.

[24] The early 14th century saw a major expansion under Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman, who also constructed the nearby Palace of Husuni Kubwa.

[25] Its design – a pointed arch, capitals, pilasters, friezes, and a fluted half-dome vault – differs from the original structure.

The western section of the mosque housed the ablution area, essential for worshippers to perform ritual cleansing before prayers.

Other defining features include causeways and platforms at the entrance of the Harbour made from blocks of reef and coral nearly a meter high.

In true Swahili architecture style the structure was built out of coral stone on a high bluff overlooking the Indian Ocean.

It consists of three major elements: a south court, used primarily for commerce; a residential complex including over one hundred individual rooms; and a wide stairway leading down to a mosque on the beach.

The coral rag was set in limestone mortar and cut stone was used for decorative pieces, door jams, and vaults.

Most of the imported glazed pottery recovered at the site was Chinese celadon, though there were a few Ying Ch'ing stoneware sherds present, and a Yuan dynasty flask dated to about 1300 CE.

[31] According to local oral tradition, in the 11th century the island of Kilwa Kisiwani was sold to Ali bin Hasan, son of the "King" of Shiraz, in Persia.

[citation needed] Ali bin Al-Hasan is credited with founding the island city and with marrying the daughter of the local king.

Archaeological and documentary research has revealed that over the next few centuries, Kilwa grew to be a substantial city and the leading commercial entrepôt on the southern half of the Swahili Coast (roughly from the present Tanzanian-Kenya border southward to the mouth of the Zambezi River), trading extensively with states of the Southeast African hinterland as far as Zimbabwe.

Trade was mainly in gold, iron, ivory and other animal products of the interior for beads, textiles, jewelry, porcelain and spices from Asia.

Ibn Battuta also describes how the sultan would go into the interior and raid the people taking slaves and other forms of wealth.

The wealthy enjoyed indoor plumbing in their stone homes and the poor lived in mud huts with thatched roofs.

[34] After the Omani conquest, the French built and manned a fort at the northern tip of the island, but the city itself was abandoned in the 1840s.