Manda is an island of the

Lamu Archipelago The Lamu Archipelago is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. The islands lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga, near the Coast Province. It is a part of Lamu District. The largest of the isl ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, known for the prosperous 9th century ports of

Takwa The Takwa settlement is situated on the south side of Manda Island, in the Lamu District in the coastal province of Kenya. They are the ruins of a town which was abandoned around the 18th century. The Takwa site can be easily reached from Lamu ...

and Manda town. The island is now linked by ferry to

Lamu Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island. ...

and is home to

Manda Airport Manda Airport , also called Lamu Airport, is an airport in Kenya. Location Manda Airport is located on Manda Island in the Lamu Archipelago of Lamu County on the western shore of the Indian Ocean, on the Kenya coast. Its location is approxim ...

, while Manda Toto island lies to its west. The island is separated from the mainland by the narrow ''Mkanda'' channel. Both Manda town and Takwa were probably abandoned due to lack of water in the first half of the 19th century. In the 1960s the Kenya Department of Agriculture recommended building several concrete catchments called ''jabias'' to capture rain water on the island. Two ''jabias'' were built and many families moved onto the island, farming maize,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

simsim Simsim ( fa, سیمسیم) was either a historical region or kingdom in the North Caucasus during the Middle Ages, existing in the 14th century. Predominantly localized roughly in Eastern Chechnya ( Ichkeria), with some also connecting part of . ...

and cotton.

Manda town

History

The Manda town ruins (on the Northwest coast of Manda Island), were first explored by the archaeologist Neville Chittick in 1965. The town owes its origins to trade with the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

during 9th and 10th centuries . The chief trading commodity was probably

elephant ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

. mangrove poles were probably also important. Early inhabitants of Manda constructed buildings with burnt square brick and stone and set with a

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

mortar. These building techniques are found only on islands and coastal areas of Kenya. This brick and mortar technology is unique to the previously mentioned areas whereas the bricks averaging about 18 cm (which "match perfectly ...in measure") are unique for East Africa for this period, and are likely to have been brought in from

Sohar Sohar ( ar, صُحَار, also Romanized as Suḥār) is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town, Suhar has also been credited ...

, in modern-day

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

. These bricks probably arrived on Manda Island as ballast in sailing ships entering the port. From the mid-9th century to the early 11th century buildings were also constructed from coral known as ''coral rag'' cut from dead

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s. The large scale excavations in 1966, 1970, and 1978 revealed an prosperity unrivaled in East Africa for the period. Signs of this prosperity include Chinese porcelain dating from the ninth century onward,

Islamic pottery Medieval Islamic pottery occupied a geographical position between Chinese ceramics, the unchallenged leaders of Eurasian production, and the pottery of the Byzantine Empire and Europe. For most of the period it can fairly be said to have been b ...

and glass, and local pottery dated by the associated imports. . Chittick defines 7 periods for occupation of Manda Island: Mid-9th to early 11th century, Mid-11th to late 13th century, late 13th to 14th century, 15th and early 16th century, Mid-16th to 17th century, and Post-seventeenth century. A striking feature of the town are large

sea walls A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of Coastal management, coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habit ...

built sometime between the 9th century to the 13th century. The walls parallel the shore and are built from large coral blocks. These walls were likely constructed to reclaim sections of the shoreline. Running parallel with the sea with returns running inland, these walls built from large coral blocks are deduced to have been constructed partly to reclaim sections of the shore, and partly to consolidate the edges of the peninsula. In the July 2013 issue of

Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

it was reported that a Chinese "

Yongle Tongbao The Yongle Tongbao (Traditional Chinese: 永樂通寳; Simplified Chinese: 永乐通宝; Hanyu Pinyin: ''yǒnglè tōng bǎo''; Japanese: ''Eiraku Tsūhō''; Vietnamese: ''Vĩnh Lạc Thông Bảo'') was a Ming dynasty era Chinese cash coin prod ...

" cash coin was found on Manda Island, illustrating the reach of Chinese explorers and traders. The coin was issued during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di which lasted until 1424. At its peak, the town covered some and its population is estimated to have been about 3,500.Martin, 1973, p. 26 Manda prospered until the 13th century when it began to decline.

Takwa

The Takwa Ruins was a town in the period 1500-1700, and it was designated a Kenyan National Monument in 1982.

Manda Airport

Manda Airport is the only civilian airport in the

Notes

References

* Chittick, Neville: ''MANDA: Excavations at an Island Port on the Kenya Coast. British Institute In Eastern Africa'', 1984 *Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and Esmond Bradley Martin: ''Quest for the Past. An historical guide to the Lamu Archipelago.'' 1973.