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The Tongoni Ruins (''Magofu ya kale ya Tongoni'' in
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...
) are a 15th century
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...
ruins of a mosque and forty tombs located in Tongoni ward in
Tanga District Tanga is one of eleven administrative districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . Tanga district is bordered to the north by Mkinga District, to the east by the Indian Ocean, to the south and west by Muheza District ...
inside
Tanga Region Tanga Region (''Mkoa wa Tanga'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Burundi. The regional capital is the mu ...
of
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
. The area was a different place four to five centuries ago. Contrary to its almost unnoticed presence today, it was a prosperous and a respected Swahili trading centre during the 15th century. Most of the ruins are still not yet been uncovered. The site is a registered National Historic Site.


History

Tongoni was established around the tenth century by Swahili residents as part of the Swahili city states dotted along the East African coast.
Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...
, the Portuguese sailor, first visited Tongoni in April 1498. He had the opportunity to eat the local oranges, which he said were better than those available in Portugal. He made a second visit the following year, and spent fifteen days in Tongoni.


Management

The ruins at Tongoni are under the Tanzanian Antiquities department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The ruins are open to the public but there have been no Phase III excavations. Decades ago, a small test excavation was conducted at the site and a site plan was drawn.https://www.maliasili.go.tz/uploads/Mafanikio_ktk_Idara_ya_Mambo_ya_Kale.pdf


See also

* Historic Swahili Settlements *
Swahili architecture Swahili architecture is a term used to designate a whole range of diverse building traditions practiced or once practiced along the eastern and southeastern coasts of Africa. Rather than simple derivatives of Islamic architecture from the Arabic ...
*
National Historic Sites in Tanzania National Historic Sites of Tanzania is an official list of places in Tanzania that have been designated as National Historic Sites as per the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of Tanzania under the Antiquities Division. The list is not co ...


References

National Historic Sites in Tanga Region National Historic Sites in Tanzania Buildings and structures in the Tanga Region Tourist attractions in the Tanga Region Swahili people Swahili city-states Swahili culture Ruins in Tanzania Archaeological sites in Tanzania Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa {{TangaTZ-geo-stub