They sent more ships to the eastern coast of Africa with three goals: to take anything of value they could find, to force the kings of the city to pay taxes to Portuguese tax collectors, and to gain control over the entire Indian Ocean trade. The Portuguese government took immediate interest in the Swahili city-states. In 1499, da Gama returned to Portugal and told the king and queen, who had sponsored his voyage, everything that he’d seen, including the shiploads of gold, ivory, porcelain, silk, and cotton being bought and sold in the port cities along the eastern coast of Africa. Vasco da Gama did eventually reach India with the help of a navigator from Malindi named Majid. But now the countries of Europe had begun looking for faster, cheaper routes to Asia. European countries had been buying Asian goods for years through other, more difficult routes. He and his crew were welcomed by most of the cities they visited, although neither his ships nor the European items they attempted to trade were of much interest in the East African city-states.ĭa Gama’s mission was to find a route to Asia by sailing from Portugal, around Africa, then on to India. You can imagine the surprise, then, of Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama when in 1498 he came upon bustling port cities such as Sofala, Kilwa, Mombasa, and Malindi as he sailed up the eastern coast of Africa. Although the city-states were famous throughout Africa and Asia, no European countries knew of them. The Swahili city-states steadily grew and prospered, and were a major world economic power by the 1400’s. Click HERE to enjoy a Swahili proverb exercise. Although Swahili is an African (or more precisely, Bantu) language, many words in Swahili can still can be traced back to Arabic and Hindi origins. Today millions of Swahili people live in the nations of East Africa, where the Swahili language is widely spoken. Interracial marriages were not uncommon, and gradually over the centuries, a new and distinct ethnic group developed, known as the Swahili. Many of the merchants from the Arabian peninsula, India, and Southeast Asia stayed in the city-states of East Africa. All of these factors created an ideal setting for import-export companies to conduct business.
Finally, East Africa was a fairly peaceful region, and the few conflicts that did occur were small and brief. Merchants, tired after their long overseas journey, enjoyed the lodging and entertainment offered by the port cities.
Ships had no trouble docking at the excellent ports and harbors located on the coasts of the city-states, making it easy to unload and load cargo. Also, the city-states were easy to reach from Asia by ship because of the favorable wind and ocean currents.
The gold was needed mainly for coins, although it was also used for works of art, ornamentation on buildings, and jewelry. An important attraction was the gold obtained from inland kingdoms. The city-states along the eastern coast of Africa made ideal centers of trade. These were Africa’s imports in the Indian Ocean Trade. These items were expensive because they were not available in Africa at the time. Many residents of the city-states were willing to pay high prices for cotton, silk, and porcelain objects. These items could be sold at a profit because they were scarce in Asian countries.Īt the same time, the East African city-states were buying items from Asia. These were Africa’s exports in the Indian Ocean Trade. These materials were then sold to places like India, Southeast Asia, and China. The city-states traded with inland kingdoms like Great Zimbabwe to obtain gold, ivory, and iron. These included Kilwa, Sofala, Mombasa, Malindi, and others. The Indian Ocean Trade began with small trading settlements around 800 A.D., and declined in the 1500’s when Portugal invaded and tried to run the trade for its own profit.Īs trade intensified between Africa and Asia, prosperous city-states flourished along the eastern coast of Africa.