Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

Historical Period Stone Anchors from Mombasa, Kenya: Evidence of Overseas Maritime Trade Contacts with Asia and Middle East

Year 2015, Volume: 2 Issue: 3, 15 - 26, 31.12.2015
https://doi.org/10.30897/ijegeo.303557

Abstract

One of the characteristics of the
East African Coast has been its accessibility. The sea has been a means of
contact with the outside world. Over the last 2000 years, there has been an
interpenetration of cultures to this region through trade consequently
assimilating this coast into the international economic system. Accessibility
from the land has made the East African coast historically an integral part of
Africa. This allowed movement of goods from inland to the coast and onward to
international markets. This coast has a trade advantage because the monsoon
winds and oceanic currents are reliable and permit rapid, seasonal navigation,
both along the coast of eastern Africa and across the Indian Ocean to western
and southern Asia. A number of scholars have discussed how the monsoon winds
and currents facilitated communication between various parts of the Western
Indian Ocean (WIO) seaboard and the Red sea, the Persian Gulf, and southeastern
Asia. These winds caused long distance seasonal sailing along the East African
coast and beyond to the rest of the ancient world. The islands of Comoros and
Madagascar were also part of the Western Indian Ocean seaboard cultural and
trade networks from very early times even before the BC/AD changeover. One of
the major ancient coastal cities that played a role in this transoceanic trade
is Mombasa in the Kenya coast. This paper explores these ancient trade contacts
which have been proven by historical period stone anchors discovered in
Mombasa, Kenya.




References

  • Abungu, G. O 1989. Communities on the river Tana, Kenya: An Archaeological study of relations between the Delta and the river basin, 700 - 1800 A.D, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge.
  • Ase, L. E., 1987. “Sea-level changes on the east coast of Africa during the Holocene and late Pleistocene”, in Tooley, M. and Sherman, I (eds.), Sea-level changes, Oxford, Blackwell, pp 276 - 295.
  • Ase, L. E., 1981. “Studies of shores and shore displacement on the southern coast of Kenya – especially in Kilifi District”, Geografisker Annaler, 63A: 303 - 310.
  • Bita, C., 2012. The Origin of Malindi Town. A Case Study of Mambrui, M.A. Dissertation. University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.
  • Bita, C., 2011a. Ancient Afro-Asia links. New evidence from a maritime perspective. Proceedings on the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage, November 8–12, 2011. Manila, Philippines.
  • Bita, C., 2011b. Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment for the Lion 2 Undersea Fibre Optic Cable in Mombasa. National Museums of Kenya. Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2009a. Inter-tidal and foreshore survey of Pate island, Survey report, Fort Jesus Museum. Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2009b. The intertidal and foreshore archaeology of Mombasa Island: An inventory of maritime sites, Survey report, Fort Jesus museum, Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2008. Maritime archaeological survey of Mombasa channel. Inter-tidal and seabed survey. Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment report, Fort Jesus museum, Mombasa.
  • Boxer, C. R., and de Azevedo, C., 1960. Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa, 1593 –1729, Hollis and Carter, London.
  • Boxer, C., 1960. Fort Jesus and Portuguese in Mombasa, London, British Museum.
  • Breen, C., and Lane, J. P., 2003. “Archaeological Approaches to East Africa's Changing Seascapes”, World Archaeology, Taylor and Francis Ltd, 35: (3) 469 – 489.
  • Casson, L., 1989. Periplus Maris Erythreai. Text with introduction, translation and commentary, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
  • Chami, F, 2009. Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast from c.30 000 years ago, E & D Vision Publishing, Dar es Salaam.
  • Chami, F., 2006. The Unity of African Ancient History: 3000 BC to AD 500, E and D Publishers, Dar es Salaam.
  • Chami, F., 1999. Roman beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: first incontrovertible Archaeological link with Periplus, in Current Anthropology, 40: 237–241.
  • Chami, F.,1994. The Tanzanian Coast in the First Millennium A.D: An Archaeology of the iron Working, Farming Communities, Uppsala, Societas Archaeological Uppsaliensis.
  • Chittick, H. N., 1984. Manda. Excavations at an island port on the Kenya coast, Nairobi, British Institute in Eastern Africa, memoir 9.
  • Datoo, B. A., 1970. “Rhapta: The location and importance of East Africa’s first port”, Azania, 5: 65 - 77.
  • Dubin, I., 1987. The history of beads from 30,000 BC to the present. London.
  • Thames and Hudson D’Souza, B. R., 2008. Harnessing the trade winds. Story of the centuries old trade with East Africa using the monsoon winds, Zand Graphics, Nairobi.
  • Freeman-Grenville, G. P., 1975. The East African Coast: Selected documents from the first to earliest nineteenth century, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  • Freeman-Grenville, G. P., 1962. The medieval history of the coast of Tanganyika, London, Oxford University Press.
  • Frazier, J. G., 1993. “Dry coastal ecosystems of Kenya and Tanzania” in Maarel, E.V.D. (ed.), Ecosystems of the world: Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, (Vol. 2B), Hamburg, LIT Verlag, pp. 249 - 260.
  • Garlake P. S., 1966. The early Islamic architecture of the east African coast, Nairobi, Oxford University press.
  • Gerhardt, K. S., 1986. An inventory of a coastal forest in Kenya: Gedi National Monument and Nature trail, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, International Rural Development, Uppsala.
  • Hollingsworth, L., 1951. A Short History of the East Coast of Africa, London, Macmillan.
  • Horton, M. C., 1990. The Periplus and East Africa, in Azania, 25: 95–99.
  • Horton, M. C., 1987. Early Muslim trading settlements on the East African Coast: New Evidence from Shanga, in Antiquaries Journal, 67: 290-322.
  • Hourani, F. G., 1963. Arab Seafaring, Khayats, Beirut.
  • Huntingford, G. W., 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, London, Hakluyt Society.
  • Horton, M. C., 1984. The early settlement of the northern Swahili coast, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
  • Kirwan, L. P., 1986. “Rhapta: Metropolis of Africa”, Azania, 21: 99 - 114.
  • Kusimba, C. M., 1999. The Rise and fall of Swahili States, London, Altmara Press.
  • Martin, E. B., 1973. A history of Malindi, Nairobi, East African Literature Bureau.
  • Masamba, D., 2007. Kiswahili Origins and the Bantu divergence – convergence theory. Institute of Swahili research. University of Dar es Salaam.
  • Matthew, G., 1963. The East African Coast until the coming of the Portuguese, in History of East Africa, R. Oliver, and G. Matthew, Eds. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 94-28.
  • Ndiiri, W., 1992. An Ethno-archaeological Study of Contemporary Local Pottery on the Kenyan Coast, M.A. Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
  • Patience, K., 2006. Shipwrecks and Salvage on the East African Coast, Dar Akhbar Al Khaleej, Bahrain.
  • Piercy, R, C, M., 1978. “Mombasa wreck excavation, preliminary report,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 7: 301 - 19.
  • Piercy, R, C, M., 1977. “Mombasa wreck excavation, preliminary report,” InternationalJournal of Nautical Archaeology, 6: 331 - 47.
  • Richmond, M. D., 1997. A field guide to the seashores of eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands, Sida / Sarec, Eurolitho, Milano.
  • Rory, Q., Wes F., Colin, B.,Donal, B.,, Paul, L., Athman, L., 2007. Process-based models for Port evolution and wreck site formation at Mombasa, Kenya Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1449 -1460
  • Rosemary M., and Thomas M., 2007. Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 11, No. 2, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
  • Sassoon, H., 1980. Mombasa Wreck Excavation. Interim Report National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi.
  • Sheriff, A., 2002. Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar. Oxford. James Carrey
  • Sheriff, A., 2000. Coastal Interactions. Journal of African History 43: 317-318
  • Sutton, J. E., 1990. A thousand years of East Africa, British Institute in East Africa, Nairobi.
  • Stigand, C., 1913. The Land of Zinj, London.
  • Tripati, S., Sundaresh, A.S., and Gaur, 2006. Exploration of a Portuguese shipwreck in Goa Waters, western coast of India, in Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 30: 127–136.
  • Tripati, S., Gaur A. S., and Sundaresh, 2003. Anchors from Goa waters, Central West Coast of India: Remains of Goa’s overseas trade contacts with Arabian countries and Portugal. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, 27: 97–106
  • Tripati, S., Gaur A. S. and Sundaresh, 1998. Historical period stone anchors from Vijaydurg on the west coast of India. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 22:1-8.
  • Tripati, S., and Patnaik A. P., 2008. Current Science, Vol. 94, No. 3
  • Whitehouse, D., 2001. “East Africa and the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean A.D. 800 – 1500”, in Amenoreti, B.S (ed.), Islam in East Africa: New Sources, Rome, Herder, pp 411 – 424.
  • Whitehouse, D., and Williamson, A., 1973. Sasanian Maritime trade” Iran, II: 29 - 49
  • Wright, H. T., 1984. “Early seafarers of the Comoro Islands: the Dembeni phase of the IXth – Xth centuries A.D.”, Azania, 19: 13 – 60.
Year 2015, Volume: 2 Issue: 3, 15 - 26, 31.12.2015
https://doi.org/10.30897/ijegeo.303557

Abstract

References

  • Abungu, G. O 1989. Communities on the river Tana, Kenya: An Archaeological study of relations between the Delta and the river basin, 700 - 1800 A.D, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge.
  • Ase, L. E., 1987. “Sea-level changes on the east coast of Africa during the Holocene and late Pleistocene”, in Tooley, M. and Sherman, I (eds.), Sea-level changes, Oxford, Blackwell, pp 276 - 295.
  • Ase, L. E., 1981. “Studies of shores and shore displacement on the southern coast of Kenya – especially in Kilifi District”, Geografisker Annaler, 63A: 303 - 310.
  • Bita, C., 2012. The Origin of Malindi Town. A Case Study of Mambrui, M.A. Dissertation. University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.
  • Bita, C., 2011a. Ancient Afro-Asia links. New evidence from a maritime perspective. Proceedings on the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage, November 8–12, 2011. Manila, Philippines.
  • Bita, C., 2011b. Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment for the Lion 2 Undersea Fibre Optic Cable in Mombasa. National Museums of Kenya. Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2009a. Inter-tidal and foreshore survey of Pate island, Survey report, Fort Jesus Museum. Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2009b. The intertidal and foreshore archaeology of Mombasa Island: An inventory of maritime sites, Survey report, Fort Jesus museum, Mombasa.
  • Bita, C., 2008. Maritime archaeological survey of Mombasa channel. Inter-tidal and seabed survey. Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment report, Fort Jesus museum, Mombasa.
  • Boxer, C. R., and de Azevedo, C., 1960. Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa, 1593 –1729, Hollis and Carter, London.
  • Boxer, C., 1960. Fort Jesus and Portuguese in Mombasa, London, British Museum.
  • Breen, C., and Lane, J. P., 2003. “Archaeological Approaches to East Africa's Changing Seascapes”, World Archaeology, Taylor and Francis Ltd, 35: (3) 469 – 489.
  • Casson, L., 1989. Periplus Maris Erythreai. Text with introduction, translation and commentary, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
  • Chami, F, 2009. Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast from c.30 000 years ago, E & D Vision Publishing, Dar es Salaam.
  • Chami, F., 2006. The Unity of African Ancient History: 3000 BC to AD 500, E and D Publishers, Dar es Salaam.
  • Chami, F., 1999. Roman beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: first incontrovertible Archaeological link with Periplus, in Current Anthropology, 40: 237–241.
  • Chami, F.,1994. The Tanzanian Coast in the First Millennium A.D: An Archaeology of the iron Working, Farming Communities, Uppsala, Societas Archaeological Uppsaliensis.
  • Chittick, H. N., 1984. Manda. Excavations at an island port on the Kenya coast, Nairobi, British Institute in Eastern Africa, memoir 9.
  • Datoo, B. A., 1970. “Rhapta: The location and importance of East Africa’s first port”, Azania, 5: 65 - 77.
  • Dubin, I., 1987. The history of beads from 30,000 BC to the present. London.
  • Thames and Hudson D’Souza, B. R., 2008. Harnessing the trade winds. Story of the centuries old trade with East Africa using the monsoon winds, Zand Graphics, Nairobi.
  • Freeman-Grenville, G. P., 1975. The East African Coast: Selected documents from the first to earliest nineteenth century, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  • Freeman-Grenville, G. P., 1962. The medieval history of the coast of Tanganyika, London, Oxford University Press.
  • Frazier, J. G., 1993. “Dry coastal ecosystems of Kenya and Tanzania” in Maarel, E.V.D. (ed.), Ecosystems of the world: Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, (Vol. 2B), Hamburg, LIT Verlag, pp. 249 - 260.
  • Garlake P. S., 1966. The early Islamic architecture of the east African coast, Nairobi, Oxford University press.
  • Gerhardt, K. S., 1986. An inventory of a coastal forest in Kenya: Gedi National Monument and Nature trail, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, International Rural Development, Uppsala.
  • Hollingsworth, L., 1951. A Short History of the East Coast of Africa, London, Macmillan.
  • Horton, M. C., 1990. The Periplus and East Africa, in Azania, 25: 95–99.
  • Horton, M. C., 1987. Early Muslim trading settlements on the East African Coast: New Evidence from Shanga, in Antiquaries Journal, 67: 290-322.
  • Hourani, F. G., 1963. Arab Seafaring, Khayats, Beirut.
  • Huntingford, G. W., 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, London, Hakluyt Society.
  • Horton, M. C., 1984. The early settlement of the northern Swahili coast, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
  • Kirwan, L. P., 1986. “Rhapta: Metropolis of Africa”, Azania, 21: 99 - 114.
  • Kusimba, C. M., 1999. The Rise and fall of Swahili States, London, Altmara Press.
  • Martin, E. B., 1973. A history of Malindi, Nairobi, East African Literature Bureau.
  • Masamba, D., 2007. Kiswahili Origins and the Bantu divergence – convergence theory. Institute of Swahili research. University of Dar es Salaam.
  • Matthew, G., 1963. The East African Coast until the coming of the Portuguese, in History of East Africa, R. Oliver, and G. Matthew, Eds. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 94-28.
  • Ndiiri, W., 1992. An Ethno-archaeological Study of Contemporary Local Pottery on the Kenyan Coast, M.A. Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
  • Patience, K., 2006. Shipwrecks and Salvage on the East African Coast, Dar Akhbar Al Khaleej, Bahrain.
  • Piercy, R, C, M., 1978. “Mombasa wreck excavation, preliminary report,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 7: 301 - 19.
  • Piercy, R, C, M., 1977. “Mombasa wreck excavation, preliminary report,” InternationalJournal of Nautical Archaeology, 6: 331 - 47.
  • Richmond, M. D., 1997. A field guide to the seashores of eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands, Sida / Sarec, Eurolitho, Milano.
  • Rory, Q., Wes F., Colin, B.,Donal, B.,, Paul, L., Athman, L., 2007. Process-based models for Port evolution and wreck site formation at Mombasa, Kenya Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1449 -1460
  • Rosemary M., and Thomas M., 2007. Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 11, No. 2, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
  • Sassoon, H., 1980. Mombasa Wreck Excavation. Interim Report National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi.
  • Sheriff, A., 2002. Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar. Oxford. James Carrey
  • Sheriff, A., 2000. Coastal Interactions. Journal of African History 43: 317-318
  • Sutton, J. E., 1990. A thousand years of East Africa, British Institute in East Africa, Nairobi.
  • Stigand, C., 1913. The Land of Zinj, London.
  • Tripati, S., Sundaresh, A.S., and Gaur, 2006. Exploration of a Portuguese shipwreck in Goa Waters, western coast of India, in Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 30: 127–136.
  • Tripati, S., Gaur A. S., and Sundaresh, 2003. Anchors from Goa waters, Central West Coast of India: Remains of Goa’s overseas trade contacts with Arabian countries and Portugal. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, 27: 97–106
  • Tripati, S., Gaur A. S. and Sundaresh, 1998. Historical period stone anchors from Vijaydurg on the west coast of India. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 22:1-8.
  • Tripati, S., and Patnaik A. P., 2008. Current Science, Vol. 94, No. 3
  • Whitehouse, D., 2001. “East Africa and the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean A.D. 800 – 1500”, in Amenoreti, B.S (ed.), Islam in East Africa: New Sources, Rome, Herder, pp 411 – 424.
  • Whitehouse, D., and Williamson, A., 1973. Sasanian Maritime trade” Iran, II: 29 - 49
  • Wright, H. T., 1984. “Early seafarers of the Comoro Islands: the Dembeni phase of the IXth – Xth centuries A.D.”, Azania, 19: 13 – 60.
There are 56 citations in total.

Details

Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Caesar Bita This is me

Publication Date December 31, 2015
Published in Issue Year 2015 Volume: 2 Issue: 3

Cite

APA Bita, C. (2015). Historical Period Stone Anchors from Mombasa, Kenya: Evidence of Overseas Maritime Trade Contacts with Asia and Middle East. International Journal of Environment and Geoinformatics, 2(3), 15-26. https://doi.org/10.30897/ijegeo.303557