Swahili architecture

Swahili architecture is a term used to designate a whole range of diverse building traditions practiced or once practiced along the eastern and southeastern coasts of Africa. Rather than simple derivatives of Islamic architecture from the Arabic world, Swahili stone architecture is a distinct local product as a result of evolving social and religious traditions, environmental changes, and urban development.^[1]

What is today seen as typically Swahili architecture is still very visible in the thriving urban centers of Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi in Kenya and Songo Mnara, Kilwa Kisiwani, and Zanzibar in Tanzania. The distribution of Swahili architecture and towns provides important clues about trade relationships among different regions and societal systems.^[2] Exotic ornament and design elements also connect the architecture of the Swahili coast to other Islamic port cities. Many of the classic mansions and palaces of the Swahili coast belonged to wealthy merchants and landowners, who played a key role in the mercantile economy of the Swahili coast. Swahili architecture exhibits a range of innovations, influences, and diverse forms. History interlocks and overlaps, resulting in densely layered structures that cannot be broken down into distinct stylistic parts. Many spectacular ruins of the so-called golden age of Swahili architecture may still be observed near the southern Kenyan port of Malindi in the ruins of Gedi (the lost city of Gede/Gedi).^[3]