Coral and Limestone
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Taken from: RESOURCES OF THE OCEAN FRINGE AND THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEDIEVAL SWAHILI Edward Pollard 2018.
It is generally known that Coral was the building material of the Swahili in Medieval times.
Apart from its construction use, limestone and reef coral were also employed as a flux in iron production. It occurs at Bwembweni in connection with iron-making dating to tenth–thirteenth centuries (Ichumbaki and Pollard 2015). It is likely that the initial iron smelting from ore was undertaken outside the urban area as in Bwembweni, which is situated a bit away from the medieval settlement of Kaole.
Indications of an important lime industry, along Kilwa Kisiwani’s east coast in the medieval period, derive from substantial collections of reef coral and evidence of limemaking discovered in excavations on Mvinje Island and Msangamla Bay (Pollard 2008a:274–5). Undecorated pottery, fishbone, animal bone and shellfish within the same context at Mvinje Island Cave, and pottery found among reef materials at Kilwa, all dated to the fourteenth– sixteenth century, suggest exploitation of these resources during Kilwa’s prosperous phase (ibid.).
At Kilwa Kisiwani, Chittick’s (1974: 39–40) excavations exposed twelfth-century lime kilns, and comparable pits have been located at Songo Mnara (Fleisher and Wynne-Jones 2012: 193–4). Chittick (1974: 39–40) described an alternative and earlier method of limemaking which, despite the strictures noted above concerning production in an urban area, was conducted beside the Great House (behind the Great Mosque) itself rather than externally. His trench contained lime kilns from a period when stone buildings were first introduced to the area. Feeder trenches led into the kilns, with blocking stones placed to shut off the draught after the required temperature was obtained.
End of the Middle-Ages View on 'Lime Production and Use' by the Portuguese.
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Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
P329
LETTER FROM D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA VICEROY OF INDIA, TO THE KING
Cochin, 1505 December 16
………………………………
Account of Kilwa ……………
………….. Your Highness may order such franchise and conditions in the kingdom as required by your Service and from there Sire I ordered these naos (ship) to bring two hundred moios (=9 liters) of lime mingled with sand and parboiled for these fortresses and left message for Fernam Cotrim whom I appointed as factor since he is the right man for it, and who brought me a letter from Your Highness that he should always have lime ready to send me by the naos that come here, for they make so much of it there that it costs us nothing and he can have it there all but free Francisco Coutinho I left as provost of Kilwa for he is a good knight and man sufficient for it, ………………
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
…………… In Kilwa there are storied houses very stoutly built of masonry and covered with a plaster that has a thousand paintings. …………
………….. (In Kilwa) Here they make lime thus. They pile up in a circle a lot of logs and upon them they place the stone and the burning logs turn the stone into lime like that made in Portugal. ……………
……………. (In Mombasa) The houses are after the fashion of Kilwa and the greater part are of three stories and all covered with plaster. ……………
SUMMARY OF A LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA, CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
1506 August 31
………… (From Kilwa) Item, that he would send Gonçalo Vaaz to Sofala with two sambuks (is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden sailing vessel) loaded with lime and that he would order him to return to these islands of Comoro as he thought it dutiful to your Service. ………………
LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA. CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
Kilwa, 1506 Deceraber 22
…………… Sire, had resolved that when Gomçallo Vaaz came here I would order him to load his ship with lime for Sofala as I believe they have great need of it there and from Sofala he was to go and discover the islands of Comoro for there is much to discover there and in the mainland beyond. …………
Taken from: The first Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East Indias by the Portingals, in the time of King Don John, the second of that name. By Hernan Lopes de Castaneda. Translated into English by Nicholas Lichefield 1582.
(When describing the first trip of Vasco da Gama to India: 1498
…………………… (about Mombaza) Most of the houses of this place are built of stone and lime, having the ceilings finely constructed of plaster, and the streets are very handsome. This city is subject to a king of its own, the inhabitants being Moors, some of whom are white and others brown.
……………….. Melinda is a large city, with fair streets, and many good houses of stone and lime, containing several stories, with windows, and having terraced roofs made of lime and stones. ……….
(Voyage of Pedro Alvarez Cabral to India in 1500)
……… The city of Quiloa is in lat. 9°25' S. and long. 40°20' E., handsomely built of stone and lime, and pleasantly situated between fine gardens and the sea, having abundance of provisions from its own island and from other places on the continent. …………..
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol 4
………. Then he (Tristram da Cunha in 1506) went to cast anchor in front of Brava, which is at LXV leagues (of Lamu), surrounded by a wall with its cave, and tall houses with two-story buildings, and stone terraces, and very rich lime, due to the great reef that is there, …………..
Taken from: Da Ásia de João de Barros, dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento e conquista dos mares e terras do Oriente ; João de Barros 1552. (first decade)
(Vasco da Gama returning in 1506 to Mombaza) ………….. with which it was like an island so hidden from our eyes, that they had no view of it when they reached the port's throat. The city was uncovered as the beautiful buildings were made of stone and lime, with windows and roofs in the style of Spain, ……………
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
ISLAND OF QUILOA.
After passing this place and going towards India, there is another island close to the mainland, called Quiloa, in which there is a town of the Moors, built of handsome houses of stone and lime, and very lofty, with their windows like those of the Christians; in the same way it has streets, …………….
ISLAND OF MOMBAZA.
Passing Quiloa, and going along the coast of the said Arabia Felix towards India, close to the mainland there is another island, in which there is a city of the Moors, called Mombaza, very large and beautiful, and built of high and handsome houses of stone and whitewash, and with very good streets, in the manner of those of Quiloa. …………..
MELINDE.
After passing the city of Mombaza, at no great distance further on along the coast, there is a very handsome town on the mainland on the beach, called Melinde, and it is a town of the Moors, which has a king. And this town has fine houses of stone and whitewash, of several stories, with their windows and terraces, and good streets. The inhabitants are dusky and black, and go naked from the waist ……………
PATE - LAMO
After passing Melinde, and going towards India, they cross the Gulf (because the coast trends inwards) towards the Red Sea, and on the coast there is a town called Pate, and further on there is another town of the Moors, called Lamon; all these trade with the Gentiles of the country, and they are strongly-walled towns of stone and whitewash, because at times they have to fight with the Gentiles, who live in the interior of the country.
BRAVA.
Leaving these places, further on along the coast is a town of the Moors, well walled, and built of good houses of stone and whitewash, which is called Brava. It has not got a king; it is governed by its elders, ……………