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and Husuni Ndogo (small Husuni). The term
Husuni derives from the Arabic term
husn
meaning
fortified enclosure or fortress. Whilst this term may
be appropriate for the the latter, its application to
Husuni Kubwa seems unlikely for a palace complex.
Husuni Kubwa is located on a coastal headland
overlooking the Indian Ocean. It seems to date
mostly from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth
century and may well have never been completed.
The complex consists of three main elements, the
gateway
or monumental entrance, the large south
court and a complex of four courtyards which form
the core of the palace. Also at the northern end of
the complex there is a separate private mosque
located on rocks next to the sea and reached by a
staircase. The four courtyards at the northern end of
the complex comprise an audience court, a domestic
court, a bathing pool and a palace court. On the east
side of the audience court are
a flight of steps leading
up to a flat-roofed pavilion which has been
interpreted as the sultan’s throne room. To the east
of this is the domestic court which opens on to a
complex of residential rooms, or
beyts.
The bathing
pool consists of a sunken octagonal structure with
steps and lobed recesses on each side. The palace
court at the northern end of the palace is a sunken
rectangular structure aligned north—south with
steps at either end. The north set of steps leads to a
further residential unit
which overlooks the sea and
the small mosque. It is possible that the sea mosque
and the staircase represent the sultan’s private entry
to the palace. The royal nature of the palace is
confirmed by a floriated Kufic inscription found
during excavations which mentioned Sultan al-Hasn
bin Sulayman.
By contrast Husuni Kubwa is a severe-looking
building which fits the name Husuni (fort). It
consists of a rectangular structure aligned north—
south and measuring over 70 m long by more than
50 m wide. Thirteen evenly spaced, solid, semi-
circular bastions protect the outside of the wall
with one rectangular tower on the west side. The
only entrance is in
the middle of the south side
and consists of a wide gateway leading into a
gateway with the exit on the east side thus forming
a bent entrance. Excavations have revealed the
traces of a few structures inside but these may be
later and do not give any indication of the function
of the building which is unparalleled elsewhere
in East Africa and suggests an outside influence.
There is little evidence for dating this structure
although it is thought to be contemporary with
Husuni Kubwa.
The other two important buildings on Kilwa
island are also defensive
structures although they
seem to date mostly to the eighteenth century. The
largest of these is the Makutani palace which was
the residence of the sultan in the eighteenth century.
This building is contained within a fortified
enclosure known as the Makutani, which consists of
two curtain walls fortified by square towers with
embrasures. The wall was originally approximately
3 m high and crenellated. Although there is no trace
of a parapet this could have been built of wood like
many other features of the eighteenth-century
remains at Kilwa. The
palace occupies a position
between the two enclosure walls and appears to be
built around one of the earlier towers. It is the only
building on the island still to have an upper floor
which contained the main residential area of the
palace.
The Gereza or fort is located between the
Makutani palace and the Great Mosque. It consists
of a roughly square enclosure with two towers at
opposite corners. Although there is some evidence
that the original structure was Portuguese, the
present form of the building
seems to be typical of
Omani forts.
In addition to sites on Kilwa island there are
important sites on nearby islands. The earliest of
these sites is Sanje ya Kate, an island to the south
of Kilwa where there are ruins covering an area of
400 acres, including houses and a mosque. The
mosque is of an early type with a mihrab niche
contained in the thickness of the wall rather than
projecting out of the north wall as is usual in later
East African mosques. Excavations have shown
that the settlement was abandoned before 1200 and
most of the ruins date
to the tenth century or even
earlier.
To the east of Sanje ya Kate is the larger island of
Songo Mnara which contains extensive ruins on its
northern tip. The remains date to the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries and consist of thirty-three houses
and a palace complex, as well as five mosques
contained within a defensive enclosure wall. The
remains at Songo Mnara are informative as they are
one of the few places in East Africa where pre-
eighteenth-century houses survive in any numbers.
The houses have a standardized design with a
monumental entrance approached
by a flight of steps
leading via an anteroom into a sunken courtyard, to
Kilwa
