Kilwa District. Kilwa District is one of six administrative districts in the Lindi region along
the Southern coast of mainland Tanzania. Kilwa District lies at Longitude 39033' East and
Latitude 8055' South. The total district area is 13, 347.50 km2 (1,334,750 ha) of which 12,
125.9 km2 is land surface and 1,221.52 km2 is ocean. The total population in 2002 was 171,
057 people, living in 36,549 households. It is administratively divided into 6 divisions, 20
wards and 97 registered villages3.
Historically, Kilwa Kisiwani was one of the most famous and prosperous Swahili towns
along the Tanzanian coast; an ancient African settlement with thousands of years of
history. In the 15th century, the town owned its own coins, which was very rare in Africa, at
that time. In its prosperous years, Kilwa Kisiwani was one of the great civilizations of
Africa. Today, Kilwa Kisiwani has managed to preserve much of the scenery from the old
town settlement where visitors can expect to see medieval ruins such as the mosque, the
great house (believed to be the house of an Imam or the Sultan), the Makutani na Husuni
Kubwa Palace, and the Gereza (prison) which was built by Portuguese and which
dominates the view of the island from far. The most remarkable ruin however, is the
Husuni Kubwa, which is the largest pre-European building in the Equatorial Africa.
The island has been under continuous occupation since at least the ninth century. The ruins that exist on the island today – a great number of structures such as the mosque, great house and the fort (gereza) are the remains of what once was a great city in the past2. Nevertheless, the historical heritage of the site is
deprived and there is a danger of disappearance of ruins by various agents including; sea
wave erosion, and the economic activities of the local communities who lives in and
amongst the ruins, which creates some challenges to the ruins such as goats wandering
amongst the ruins. This prompted UNESCO in 2004 to add Kilwa Kisiwani to the “World Heritage Sites in danger” list.
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| Kilwa Map |
