KUA MONUMENTS

 Remains from a medieval Swahili town
JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA

Located on Juani Island in the Mafia Archipelago, the Kua monuments are all that remains from a medieval Swahili town. They offer insight into an island civilization that saw Portuguese and Omani control as well as independence, enslavement, and eventual abandonment. Indicators of early settlement and trade—including Islamic and Chinese ceramics dating to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and currency from mainland Tanzania—have been found in the monuments, while Portuguese accounts from the sixteenth century note the great wealth of the Kua people.

The Zamani Project spatially documented  some of the Kua monuments in 2018. 

All work was carried out as part of the Kua Conservation Project:
Co-Directors: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU) and Pierre Blanchard (WMF).
Partner institutions: Aga Khan University (AKU); Tanzanian Antiquities; World Monument Fund (WMF), Zamani Project (University of Cape Town)

Then Zamani Project contributed accurate 3D models and maps of the site and structures to the Kua Conservation Program.

Similar Swahili sites :
Gede (Kenya), Kilwa-Kisiwani (Tanzania), Songo Mnara (Tanzania)

Funders

> The Saville Foundation
> Aga Khan University

Collaborators / Partners 

> Stephane Pradines (Aga Khan University)
> Tanzania Heritage
> World Moument Found (WMF)

3D model of Mosque 1

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA

The Kua monuments are all that remains from a medieval Swahili town.
The spatial documentation of the Kua monuments took place in 2018.

3D model of Mosque 2 and
House 1

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA


3D model of House 4

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA

3D model of Mosque 3

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA

3D model of Mosque 6

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA

Panorama Tour

Panorama Tour of Kua monuments

JUANI ISLAND, TANZANIA
The Kua monuments are all that remains from a medieval Swahili town.
The spatial documentation of the Kua monuments took place in 2018.

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