Gedi/Gede
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No Medieval author mentions this town. It only gets a place here because one Medieval inscription has been found in the town.
Taken from: Wikipedia; Ruins of Gedi
The settlement of Gedi occurred long after the emergence of the earliest settlements along the Swahili Coast. The earliest evidence for occupation at Gedi is a grave marker that has been radiocarbon dated to between 1041 and 1278, placing the original settlement of the site sometime in the eleventh or early twelfth century.
Gedi's participation in trade is believed to be the contributing factor in its founding and its later development into a city supporting an estimated population of 2,500 inhabitants at its peak.
The adoption of Islam by the inhabitants in the twelfth century is marked by the presence of three superimposed mosques in the northern area the city, which were constructed during the twelfth to the fourteenth century. The style of architecture and the absence of minarets characteristic of all of Gedi's mosques has been used to suggest that the locals were influenced by the Ibadite denomination.
Gedi's population and prosperity peaked during the fifteenth and into the sixteenth century and declined in the late-sixteenth and abandoned in the seventeenth century.
The Gedi ruins make up a site consisting of 45 acres (18 hectares). The ancient town at Gedi is divided by two walls, with an outer wall (15th century) enclosing 45 acres (18 hectares) and an inner wall (16th century) enclosing 18 acres (7.3 hectares). The inner and outer walls were both measuring nine feet high and 18 inches thick, and coated in plaster.
Within the inner wall there are two mosques, a palace or Sheikh's house, four large houses, several clustered houses, and four large pillar tombs comprising the urban core. The inner wall also encloses four other houses and three other mosques. Between the inner and outer walls few stone structures have been identified with the exception of two mosques. Immediately beyond the outer wall there is one mosque and several other unidentified structures.
Great Mosque XV-XVI
The mosque traditionally known as the Great Mosque is a rectangular building located within the inner wall, which was built during the fifteenth century. The second Great Mosque resided in an older portion of the city, which was inhabited from the eleventh century and located to the north of the walled city. The structure that is standing was constructed in the fourteenth century on top of two earlier mosques from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Gedi's structures appear to be formally arranged in accordance with streets laid out in a grid pattern. Additionally the site contained sumps to collect storm water and lavatories in many of its primary buildings.
The majority of Gedi's structures were domestic residences made of thatched-roofed mud buildings concentrated between the outer and inner walls; however, the only buildings that survived to the present were constructed using coral stones extracted from the Indian Ocean. Although several of the buildings predate the fourteenth century, coral became a more common construction material for important structures and elite residences during that time period. All of the buildings at Gedi are single-story structures.
The pillar tombs at Gedi, which consist of masonry-based structures topped with a pillar or column, are part of an architectural style of the medieval Swahili Coastal settlements. A common feature on the pillar tombs at Gedi are decorative recessed panels. Although there are four large pillar tombs at Gedi, the "dated tomb," located within the inner wall, stands out from the rest since it has Arabic inscription on it with the date A.H. 802 (A.D. 1399).
The tomb of the dated Inscription.
It is speculated that cowrie shells may have been the principal currency at Gedi. Cowrie shells have been recovered in the store rooms of the houses and found in greater abundance than struck coins, represented by only two coins of Chinese origin. No East-African coins were found. The use of cowries as currency is supported by their historical use as tender in various parts of Africa, and Kirkman estimated the exchange rate of cowrie shells to the gold dinar to be 400,000 to 1.
Note on Gedi being mentioned in medieval Chinese texts.
Zhang Junyan (1986) and many after him have mentioned that Yuluhedi State (俞卢和地国), is Kilpwa-Gedi in Kenya, and that it sent envoys to China in 1073AD.
张俊彦 (Zhang Junyan),《古代中国与西亚非洲的海上往来》(Contact at Sea between China and West Asia and Africa during the Ancient Times). 1986, p. 111-118.
This is the text as found in the 诸蕃志 (Zhu fan zhi) (Records of Various Foreign Countries) Chao Ju-Kua (1226).
据称， 熙宁六年 （1073） ， “ 大食俞卢和地国遣蒲 啰诜来贡乳香等， 诏香依广州价回赐钱二千九百贯， 另赐银二千两”。
It is said that in the sixth year of Xining (1073); the Yuluhedi Kingdom of the Dashi (Arabs) sent Pu Luoshen to pay tribute of frankincense, etc., and the emperor ordered to return 2,900 strings of money according to the Guangzhou price and 2,000 taels of silver.
Gedi or Gede reached its apogee in the 15th century when 2500 people were estimated to live in the town of 18ha big. In 1073 AD; the town was still a small starter. Only one Yue celadon shard was found in the stratigraphic context of the XIth and XIIe century. Nearly all of the imported ceramics in these layers were from the Persian Gulf. (Fortifications et urbanization en Afrique orientale; Stéphane Pradines 2004 p239).
Very close to Gedi is Kilepwa a 1.5ha settlement. It is a site on an island in Mida Creek, consisting of a mosque, some tombs and some 3 big houses. Kirkman on the basis of local and imported ceramics and porcelains dated it from the last half of the 12th century through the second quarter of the 17th century.
The chances that these towns send an embassy to China in 1073 AD is unrealistic.
The official history of the Song dynasty Song shi (1345), when talking about Dashi (Arab States)
其國部屬各異名，故有勿巡，有陁婆離，有俞盧和地，有麻囉跋等國，然皆冠以大食。
The subordinates of this state [Dashi] have different names, therefore, there are Wuxun [Mazun], Tuopoli [Tabriz], Yuluhedi [al-Khatt], Maluoba [Mirbat] and other states, however, they are all called as Dashi.
The chances that Kilpwa-Gedi would be mentioned in a list of these important Arab trading places is unrealistic.