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68-469: The original Swahili distinguished themselves from other Bantu peoples by self-identifying as WaUngwana (the civilised ones). In certain regions (e.g., Lamu Island ), this differentiation is even more stratified in terms of societal grouping and dialect, hinting to the historical processes by which the Swahili have coalesced over time. More recently, however, through a process of Swahilization , this identity

136-481: A Kurdish geographer and historian. He wrote that Malindi was situated to the south of the mouth of a river which began in a mountain hundreds of miles away. This mountain may be Mount Kenya , where the Galana River rises. Thus, Malindi has existed as a Swahili settlement since at least the 13th century. Once rivalled only by Mombasa for dominance in this part of East Africa, Malindi has traditionally been

204-547: A continuous protected coastal area south of Malindi. The area shows classic examples of Swahili architecture . The majority of Malindi's population is Muslim . Malindi is home to the Malindi Airport and the Broglio Space Center (the previous San Marco Equatorial Range ). Malindi developed as part of the emerging Swahili civilisation in the 5th–10th centuries. Bantu -speaking farmers moved into

272-534: A graveyard was built before 1542 when Francis Xavier visited the town. Many buildings of Swahili architecture survive, including the Juma Mosque. Malindi was refounded by Sultan Majid of Zanzibar in 1861 and until the end of 19th century served as a centre of the slave trade. A plan of the town in 1873 indicates the area of occupation by that time. In 1890, Malindi came under British administration and slave trade and slavery were abolished. This act led to

340-559: A mix of approximately 83% Asian and 17% African; about 90% of the Asian DNA was Persian, and the rest was Indian. The female ancestors of Swahili elites were about 97% African and 3% Asian. This is consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle . After this time, Arabian ancestry becomes more prevalent, which correlates with the archaeological and historical record of interactions with Southern Arabia ( Oman ). For centuries

408-718: A municipal council with the following thirteen wards: Barani, Ganda/Mkaumoto, Gede , Gede North, Gede South, Kijiwetanga, Madunguni, Malimo, Malindi Central, Malindi North, Maweni, Shella, and Watamu Town . All of them are located within Malindi Constituency . The novel “MALI D’AFRICA” (by Sara Cardelli) describes an impossible love in Malindi. Most of the events in Andrei Gusev ’s novels Once in Malindi (2021) and Our Wild Sex in Malindi (2020) take place in Malindi, Watamu , or Lamu . The novels describe

476-675: A popular tourist location in Eastern Africa. https://web.archive.org/web/20150529214825/http://www.lamuisland.co.ke/ Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River , lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya . It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa . The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre in Kilifi County . Tourism

544-516: A port city. In 1414, the town was visited by the fleet of the Chinese explorer Zheng He . Malindi's ruler sent a personal envoy with a giraffe as a present to China on that fleet. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama met Malindi authorities in 1498 to sign a trade agreement and hire a guide for the voyage to India, when he erected a padrão known today as the Vasco da Gama Pillar . Vasco da Gama

612-822: A rest stop on the way to and from India, they were eagerly welcomed by the wazee who sought to use the Portuguese military might to establish themselves over their rivals in Mombasa. In 1500, King Dom Manuel I offered vassal status to Malindi. Malindi supported Portugal's successful efforts to conquer Kilwa and Mombasa in 1505. In 1502, the Portuguese established a factory in Malindi, which lasted till 1593. The decline of Kilwa and Mombasa led to Malindi's flourishing. Malindi grew as other Swahili, as well as Arab, Persian, and Indian, merchants, craftsmen, sailors, and labourers flocked to newly powerful city. Malindi remained

680-443: A significant decline in agricultural production. Outside agriculture there were few industries in Malindi at the beginning of the 20th century; among them were making mats and bags, crushing sesame seeds for oil and producing a Swahili drink called tembo. Malindi was officially made a town in 1903. Ten years later its population stood at around 1148 and included 843 Africans, 230 Arabs, 67 Asians and 8 Europeans. Malindi experienced

748-401: A song about visiting the island called "Lamu" on his 1986 album The Big Picture . A different version is featured on Smith's 1987 live album The Live Set . In 2001, Lamu was designated a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO site. Centuries ago the island of Lamu was highly dependent on the function of slavery in its economy, since abolishment of slavery

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816-642: A substantial source of revenue. Captives sold via the Zanzibar slave trade by Arab slave traders ended up in Portuguese Brazil or via the Indian Ocean slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula . Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. Fish is sold to their inland neighbours in exchange for products of the interior. Although most Swahili living standards are far below that of upper hierarchy of

884-530: A trade boom between the end of the World War I and 1925, when a famine occurred. Exports to foreign ports grew to £26,000 by 1924. Europeans started to return to Malindi in the 1930s, buying land from Arabs. Some of them like Commander Lawford opened the first hotels, which became the foundation of the future tourist industry. During World War II , Malindi was one of only two towns in East Africa bombed by

952-468: A unified group of communities that developed into the first centre of coastal maritime culture. The coastal towns appear to have been engaged in Indian Ocean trade at this early period, and trade rapidly increased in importance and quantity between the mid-8th and the 11th century. A local 15th genealogy, the Kilwa Chronicle , identifies the rulers and founders of the costal cities as immigrants from

1020-598: Is a Swahili settlement filled with culture. Prior to the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, people of various countries and regions migrated to the island of Lamu. Traders and sailors from the Arabian Peninsula, China, India and South-East Asia traveled across the Indian Ocean to the East African Coast to reach the island of Lamu. The diverse mixture of sailors and traders with the native people of

1088-564: Is a port, city, and island just off the shore of Kenya in the Indian Ocean approximately 150 miles from Mombasa . It is a part of the East African country of Kenya. Lamu was founded in the 12th century. Lamu is one of the longest-established and best-preserved remaining settlements of the Swahili tradition in east Africa that remains today. The island has continually been inhabited for over seven hundred years, and continues to be an important center in eastern Africa. The island of Lamu

1156-469: Is also an important cultural, technological, and religious center in Eastern Africa. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant center for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures which scholars from both traditions studying in Lamu. Most evident tradition in Lamu however is the Swahili. In falling characteristically with the Swahili culture, most of

1224-475: Is an important center for trade because it is the most important trade center in East Africa. People migrated from various lands and from various cultures to conduct trade at the port of Lamu, the abundance of a diversity of people trading at the island of Lamu impacted the future culture of this island. Not only did the traders help the economy of Lamu grow, but it also gave the local people the opportunity to adopt different customs as their own. Because of this, Lamu

1292-624: Is especially known for the Friday mosque . A 3D documentation based on terrestrial laser-scanning done by the Zamani Project of the Shela Mosque (Friday Mosque) was carried out in 2006. A 3D model, a Panorama tour, plans and images can be view here . Shela is now a centre for tourism on the island, with several guest houses featured by the coast. Shela is also home to the most spectacular beaches on Lamu island, which were damaged during

1360-475: Is extended to any person of African descent who speaks Swahili as their first language, is Muslim , and lives in a town on the main urban centres of most of modern-day Tanzania and coastal Kenya, northern Mozambique, or the Comoros. The name Swahili originated as an exonym for the language derived from Arabic : سواحل , romanized :  Sawāhil , lit.   'coasts', with WaUngwana as

1428-513: Is likewise completely lacking.". The most likely origin for the stories about the Shirazi is from Muslim inhabitants of the Lamu archipelago who moved south in the 10th and 11th centuries. They brought with them a coinage tradition and localized form of Islam. These Africans migrants seem to have developed a concept of Shirazi origin as they moved further southwards, near Malindi and Mombasa , along

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1496-675: Is the major industry in Malindi. Notable heritage sites include the Vasco da Gama Pillar , the Portuguese Chapel , the House of Columns and the Malindi Museum Heritage Complex . Malindi is served with a domestic airport and a highway between Mombasa and Lamu . The nearby Watamu town and Gedi Ruins (also known as Gede) are south of Malindi. The mouth of the Sabaki River lies in northern Malindi. The Watamu and Malindi Marine National Parks form

1564-581: The endonym . Swahili people speak the Swahili language . Modern Standard Swahili is derived from the Kiunguja dialect of Zanzibar. Like many other world languages, Swahili has borrowed a large number of words from foreign languages, particularly administrative terms from Arabic , but also words from Portuguese , Persian , Hindi , Spanish , English and German . Other, older dialects like Kimrima and Kitumbatu have far fewer Arabic loanwords, indicative of

1632-498: The tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . The appearance of the area is much more in keeping with the imagined East African coastline, with its almost pure white sand, traditional dhows, and clean appearance. It makes a sharp contrast to Lamu town (directly opposite the airstrip on Manda) which lacks a beach and functions as a relatively busy port. Chris Hanley as well as Sienna Miller own houses in Shela. Known for

1700-547: The "Shirazi" were not Middle Eastern immigrants, but northern Swahili Muslims. They moved south, founding mosques, introducing coinage and elaborately carved inscriptions and mihrabs. They should be interpreted as indigenous African Muslims who played the politics of the Middle East to their advantage. Some still use this foundation myth a millennium later to assert their authority, even though the myth's context has long been forgotten. The Shirazi legend took on new importance in

1768-424: The 19th century, during the period of Omani domination. Claims of Shirazi ancestry were used to distance locals from Arab newcomers, since Persians are not viewed as Arabs but still have an exemplary Islamic pedigree. The emphasis that the Shirazi came very long ago and intermarried with indigenous locals ties this claim to the creation of convincing indigenous narratives about Swahili heritage without divorcing it from

1836-461: The Africans (Waafrika). These different groups of people all identitfy themselves differently based on their social status, but another interesting factor that makes these groups unique that is that each social status has a different dialect. The Swahili culture is not a single culture or a way of life, it is yet a mixture of traces from European, African, Arab and Asian traditions and cultures. Since

1904-485: The East, most often Persia. Malindi's main source of prosperity was the export of ivory and rhino horns as well as exporting agricultural products such as coconuts, oranges, millet and rice. In the years before the arrival of the Portuguese, Malindi was a regional power but lagged significantly behind the two greatest states, Mombasa and Kilwa. When, in 1499, the Portuguese established a trading post in Malindi that served as

1972-459: The Island of Lamu was visited by many sailors and travelers in the early years of this island's settlement it was able to become a diverse island. The Swahili culture has a rich history and embraces all parts of the society on the island of Lamu. Because of the small winding roads on the Island, residents are forced to walk via foot or by donkey to get to wherever they are going. The use of cars for

2040-528: The Italians. This happened on 24 October 1940, and after this event allied troops were stationed in the town until the end of the war. After World War II Malindi began developing into a resort. Malindi has a tropical dry savanna climate ( Köppen climate classification As ). Malindi now falls under Kilifi County as per the administrative changes in the new constitution passed in August 2010. Malindi forms

2108-452: The Lamu island created distinguishable social classes and a diverse social structure on this African Island. The Swahili language is known as Kiswahili, and has various dialects throughout the island. There are several different social classes that the people living on the island of Lamu are considered to be part of. The different social classes are separated into the following: indigenous people (Wenyeji), foreigners (Wageni), Arabs (Waarabu) and

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2176-546: The Mrima coast. The longstanding trade connections with the Persian gulf gave credence to these myths. In addition, because most Muslim societies are patrilineal, one can claim distant identities through paternal lines despite phenotypic and somatic evidence to the contrary. The so-called Shirazi tradition represents the arrival of Islam in these eras, one reason it has proven so long lasting. Extant mosques and coins demonstrate that

2244-454: The Persian city of Shirazi , in the 11th century. This forms the basis of the Shirazi era origin myth that proliferated along the coast at the turn of the millennium. A 2022 DNA study obtained samples from 80 Muslim graves, from cities across the region, found the maternal ancestry of the studied population was primarily of East African lineages, principally Bantu and Pastoral Neolithic, while

2312-614: The Qu'ran. Divination is practiced through Qur'anic readings. Often the diviner incorporates verses from the Qur'an into treatments for certain diseases. On occasion, he instructs a patient to soak a piece of paper containing verses of the Qur'an in water. With this ink infused water, literally containing the word of Allah , the patient will then wash his body or drink it to cure himself of his affliction. The only people permitted to become medicine men in

2380-822: The Southeast African coast around the 9th century, coincident to Bantu traders both settling on the coast and tapping into the Indian Ocean trade networks. The Swahili people follow the Sunni denomination of Islam. Large numbers of Swahili undertake the Hajj and Umrah from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique. Traditional Islamic dress such as the jilbab and thob are also popular among the Swahili. The Swahili also are known for their use of divination, which has adopted some syncretic features from underlying traditional indigenous beliefs. For instance, they believe in djinn , and many men wear protective amulets featuring verses from

2448-531: The Swahili Coast in modern Kenya and Tanzania. It is believed that these people were Swahili elites because they were buried in cemeteries near the main mosques. Before 1500 CE, the inhabitants carried both African, as well as Asia/Near East ancestry, which was mainly Persian-related (with more than half of their DNA originating from African ancestors and another large proportion of DNA coming from Asian ancestors). The male ancestors of elite Swahili people were

2516-438: The Swahili depended greatly on trade from the Indian Ocean. The Swahili have played a vital role as middle man between southeast, central, and South Africa and to the outside world. Trade contacts have been noted as early as 100 CE by early Roman writers who visited the Southeast African coast in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Trade routes extended from Kenya to Tanzania into modern day Congo , along which goods were brought to

2584-509: The Swahili origin myth, indicating that "Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men." The modern Swahili people speak the Swahili language as a mother tongue, which belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo family. The language contains loan words from Arabic . Islam established its presence on

2652-517: The Waswahili themselves. Citation: The Swahili people originate from Bantu inhabitants of the coast of Southeast Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. These Bantu-speaking agriculturalists settled the coast at the outset of the first millennium. Archaeological finds at Fukuchani, on the north-west coast of Zanzibar, indicate a settled agricultural and fishing community from the 6th century CE at

2720-459: The area of Lamu island is composed of mainly sand dunes, which cover the Shela aquifer which is responsible for the islands main source of water. Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia have launched the controversial LAPSSET development project to build a port, oil refinery and rail network near the island of Lamu, the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor . In Lamu Old Town,

2788-530: The area, the earlier occupants had been displaced by incoming Bantu and Nilotic populations. More people from different parts of the Persian Gulf also continued to migrate to the Swahili coast over several centuries thereafter, and these formed the modern Shirazi. The second theory on Shirazi origins also posits that they came from Persia, but first settled in the Horn of Africa . In the twelfth century, as

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2856-416: The area, where they smelted iron, built timber and wattle houses thatched with palm leaves, spoke a local dialect of kiSwahili , and engaged in regional and sometimes long-distance trade. The resurgence of the Indian Ocean trade networks at the end of the first millennium led to larger settlements, increased long-distance trade, and greater social complexity. Beginning in the 11th century, the Swahili along

2924-420: The building and repairing of dhows , Matondoni lies at the northwest coast of the island, 7.3 km (4.5 mi) west of Lamu (town). The locals of this village are best known for building dhows. With the increasing use of speedboats, the production of dhows is starting to decrease. Now smaller dhows are created for fishing for smaller fish. There are several hundred-people living on in the village of Matondoni;

2992-534: The centre of Portuguese activity in eastern Africa until 1593, when the Portuguese moved their main base to Mombasa. This was through the help of the Segejus and the Sheikh of Malindi. As the major East African ally of Portugal along the Swahili Coast, Malindi supported Portugal's successful efforts to conquer Kilwa and Mombasa. The two Swahili city states often had feuds with each other as they fought for dominance over

3060-429: The city. After the Portuguese departed the town gradually declined until it almost disappeared by the end of 17th century. An 1823 United Kingdom Admiralty chart of 'Melinda' declared that at that time there were 'no vestiges of the once splendid city of Melinda' apart from Vasco da Gama's Pillar . In 1845, Ludwig Krapf visited the town and found it overgrown by vegetation and uninhabited. A Portuguese chapel with

3128-407: The coast were acting as middlemen for Somali , Egyptian , Nubian , Arab , Persian , and Indian traders. They began building walled towns, coral houses, and elites converted to Islam, often speaking Arabic. The Malindi Kingdom appears to have been formed around the 9th century AD and to have grown powerful in the two centuries before Vasco da Gama ushered in the Portuguese colonisation of

3196-551: The coastal parts of Kenya and Tanzania , collectively a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast , Swahili became the tongue of the urban class in the African Great Lakes region and eventually went on to serve as a lingua franca during the post-colonial period. In 2022, DNA was extracted, analyzed and compared in 80 samples taken from people buried between 1250 and 1800 CE in towns that were mostly along

3264-497: The coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders. Historical and archaeological records attest to Swahilis being prolific maritime merchants and sailors who sailed the Southeast African coastline to lands as far away as Arabia , Persia , Madagascar , India , and China . Chinese pottery and Arabian beads have been found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe . During the apogee of the Middle Ages, ivory and slaves became

3332-543: The culture are prophets and teachers of Islam. There are also Swahili that practiced Christianity . The Swahili language is the native tongue, and it is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo family. Its closest relatives include Comorian spoken on the Comoros Islands and the Mijikenda language of the Mijikenda people in Kenya. With its original speech community centred on Zanzibar and

3400-413: The form of trade and an exchange of ideas. Upon visiting Kilwa in 1331, the great Berber explorer Ibn Battuta was impressed by the substantial beauty that he encountered there. He describes its inhabitants as "Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces", and notes that "Kilwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and all its buildings are of wood" (his description of Mombasa

3468-491: The general public is banned. The weather in this region is generally warm ranging from about 23 and 33 °C. Experiencing the warmest weather from December to April and the coldest weather from May to July. A port was founded on the island of Lamu by Arab traders at least as early as the fourteenth century, when the Pwani Mosque was built. The island prospered on the slave trade . After defeating Pate Island in

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3536-499: The gold trade with the distant entrepot of Sofala on the Mozambique seaboard grew, the settlers are then said to moved southwards to various coastal towns in Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands . By 1200 CE, they had established local sultanates and mercantile networks on the islands of Kilwa , Mafia and Comoros along the Swahili coast, and in northwestern Madagascar . More recent studies support

3604-460: The ideals of being a maritime-centred culture. There are two main theories about the origins of the Shirazi subgroup of the Swahili people. One thesis based on oral tradition states that immigrants from the Shiraz region in southwestern Iran directly settled various mainland ports and islands on the eastern Africa seaboard beginning in the tenth century. By the time of the Persian settlement in

3672-403: The island has looked for other ways to bring wealth back into its economy. With the diverse cultural and colorful design of Lamu, it is a place of interest for tourists drawn to the East African Coast. The economy of the island of Lamu depends on foreigners coming to the island to experience the local lifestyle and be part of the local culture. As of recent, Lamu has entered a new phase of becoming

3740-465: The language's fundamental Bantu nature. Kiswahili served as coastal East Africa's lingua franca and trade language from the ninth century onward. Zanzibari traders' intensive push into the African interior from the late eighteenth century induced the adoption of Swahili as a common language throughout much of East Africa . Thus, Kiswahili is the most spoken African language, used by far more than just

3808-498: The latest. The considerable amount of daub found indicates timber buildings, and shell beads, bead grinders, and iron slag have been found at the site. There is evidence for limited engagement in long-distance trade: a small amount of imported pottery has been found, less than 1% of total pottery finds, mostly from the Gulf and dated to the 5th to 8th century. The similarity to contemporary sites such as Mkokotoni and Dar es Salaam indicate

3876-478: The majority of the male heritage was Asian. Some academics reject the authenticity of the primarily Persian origin claim. They point to the relative rarity of Persian customs and speech, lack of documentary evidence of Shia Islam in the Muslim literature on the Swahili Coast, and instead a historic abundance of Sunni Arab -related evidence. The documentary evidence, like the archaeological, "for early Persian settlement

3944-569: The natives live in thatched huts and use mud for daily life. The village has a modern jetty. This is a small village on the southwestern coast of the island. With the white sand beaches, this village is a popular tourist attraction. While staying in the village of Kipungani, tourists are given the options to engage in activities such as snorkeling, deep sea game fishing, and wandering the village for sight-seeing. Locals here create straw mats, baskets, hats and kifumbu (woven strainer), used to squeeze milk from mashed coconut. Michael W. Smith featured

4012-484: The nineteenth century, the island became a local power, but it declined after the British forced the closure of the slave markets in 1873. In 1890 the island became part of Zanzibar and remained obscure until Kenya was granted independence from Great Britain in 1963. Tourism developed from the 1970s, mainly around the eighteenth century Swahili architecture and traditional culture. Along its southern coastline

4080-519: The principal inhabited part of the island, is one of the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlements in East Africa.. This city has had civilians living in it for over seven hundred years, while most of the other East African settlements along the coast do not have inhabitants. Due to Lamu's history in trading gold, spices, and slaves, Lamu is truly a melting pot of different cultures and Arabic, Persian, Indian, European, and Swahili traditions that are in evidently on display in Lamu's Architecture. Lamu

4148-435: The region, the latter leading to the decline of the civilisation. The city of Malindi, founded around 850 AD, was in a somewhat more northerly location than the modern city, and appears to have been destroyed around 1000 AD. There are sparse signs of habitation for the next two centuries, then recovery and prosperity in the 1200s. The first written reference to the present-day Malindi likely comes from Abu al-Fida (1273–1331),

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4216-425: The ruling class or wazee was made up of the heads of the wealthiest patrician families. Similar to other Bantu-speaking peoples, these clan leaders elected a mwenye mui or chief who spoke on behalf of the patricians. The Portuguese mistakenly titled these individuals "Kings," misunderstanding the nature of Swahili political organisation. The wazee spoke both Swahili and Arabic, and claimed mythological origins from

4284-416: The town is built with coral stone and mangrove timber. The town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. It is also uniquely Swahili in that the town is spatially organized and is littered with narrow winding streets. Shela is a village about 3.2 km (2.0 mi) south of Lamu (town). The origin of

4352-463: The trade. In his military struggles against Mombasa, the Sheikh of Malindi allied with the Portuguese and Segeju to take over the city. In 1592, the Segeju occupied Mombasa, eventually surrendering it to the Sheikh of Malindi. The Sheikh then moved his court from Malindi to Mombasa and ruled from 1593 to 1630. During this time, he invited his allies, the Portuguese, to build a Garrison and they dominated

4420-563: The village is unknown, but according to tradition, it was settled by people from nearby Manda Island . In 1813, the elite of Pate Island , allied with the Mazrui clan from Oman , attempted to subjugate Lamu in the Battle of Shela . This attempt failed totally, and the defeat of Pate at Shela signalled the rise of Lamu as the leading power in the archipelago. Shela's golden age was from 1829 to 1857, when five of its six mosques were constructed. It

4488-794: The wealthiest nations, the Swahili are generally considered a relatively economically powerful group due to their history of trade. They are comparatively well-off. For instance, the United Nations has stated that the island of Zanzibar has a 25% higher per capita GDP than the rest of Tanzania. This economic influence has led to the continued spread of their culture and language throughout East Africa. Thought by many early scholars to be essentially of Arabic or Persian style and origin, some contemporary academics are suggesting that archaeological, written, linguistic, and cultural evidence might suggest an African genesis which would be accompanied only later by an enduring Arabic and Islamic influences in

4556-527: Was essentially the same). Kimaryo points out that the distinctive tattoo marks are common among the Makonde . Architecture included arches, courtyards, isolated women's quarters, the mihrab , towers, and decorative elements on the buildings themselves. Many ruins may still be observed near the southern Kenyan port of Malindi in the Gede ruins ( the lost city of Gede/Gedi ). Lamu Island Lamu Island

4624-553: Was given a warm reception from the Sultan of Malindi, which contrasted with the hostile reception he encountered in Mombasa . It is a popular tourist attraction for both local and international tourists. In 1498 Malindi was a prosperous town with a population between 5,000 and 10,000. The majority of the population was Muslim by this period, having converted largely between the 13th and 14th centuries. Like other Mediaeval Swahili towns,

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