Dominant Swahili city-state that controlled the gold trade from Sofala.
Sacked and brought under Portuguese control in 1505 by Francisco de Almeida, ending its independent power; the residual sultanate persisted under successive overlords (Portuguese, then Omani) until 1842, when the last sultan Hassan ibn al-Mukhtar was exiled by the Omani rulers of Zanzibar and the city was thereafter abandoned.
A history of Swahili coast society within which Kilwa was the dominant gold-trading city-state.
Survey covering the Swahili city-states and the Kilwa/Sofala gold trade (broad context).