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Construction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani

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The Great Mosque at Kilwa was likely founded in the tenth century, with major construction in the eleventh or twelfth century and again in the thirteenth. It is the oldest standing mosque on the East African coast. The building sequence tracks Kilwa's commercial rise: monumental religious architecture appears where trade wealth and a locally rooted Muslim elite already existed.

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No dated observations are stored for this object. Atlas shows what was observed and when — it does not infer a history.

Connections · 3
Assembled narrative · 1

Assembled from 40 blocks · 1 evidence · 34 related

  1. Story
  2. The Great Mosque at Kilwa was likely founded in the tenth century, with major construction in the eleventh or twelfth century and again in the thirteenth. It is the oldest standing mosque on the East African coast. The building sequence tracks Kilwa's commercial rise: monumental religious architecture appears where trade wealth and a locally rooted Muslim elite already existed.
  3. Knowledge
  4. Islam
  5. Indian Ocean maritime trade network
  6. Kilwa Kisiwani
  7. Construction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani
  8. Connections
  9. Kilwa Kisiwani
  10. Islam
  11. Indian Ocean maritime trade network
  12. Indian Ocean maritime trade network
  13. Construction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani
  14. Indian Ocean maritime trade network
  15. Bukhara
  16. Kashgar
  17. Arab conquest of Transoxiana
  18. Battle of Talas
  19. Mecca (Makkah)
  20. Jerusalem (Old City)
  21. Malacca (Melaka)
  22. The Hijra — the Muslim community's migration from Mecca to Medina
  23. Fall of the Sasanian Empire to the Rashidun Caliphate
  24. Construction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani
  25. The ruling house of Malacca adopts Islam
  26. Measured global religious composition, 2010-2020
  27. Islam
  28. Silk Road religious corridor
  29. Aksum
  30. Kilwa Kisiwani
  31. Hinduism
  32. Zoroastrianism
  33. Aksum adopts Christianity under King Ezana
  34. Zoroastrian migrants reach Gujarat — the Parsi settlement
  35. Construction of Borobudur under Shailendra patronage
  36. Construction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani
  37. The ruling house of Malacca adopts Islam
  38. Measured global religious composition, 2010-2020
  39. Evidence
  40. From the 13th to the 16th century Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara were central to Indian Ocean trade and coastal Swahili culture and prominent in the Islamisation of East Africa; Kilwa minted its own currency from the 11th to 14th centuries, and its Great Mosque is the oldest standing mosque on the East African coast.
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No public Signals are attached to this object. Signals show what changed and when it was observed — never a direction or a rank.

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/atlas?object=EVENT_KILWA_GREAT_MOSQUE_BUILT&experience=EVENT_KILWA_GREAT_MOSQUE_BUILT