The Tongoni Ruins (Magofu ya kale ya Tongoni in Swahili) are a 15th century Swahili ruins of a mosque and forty tombs located in Tongoni ward in Tanga District inside Tanga Region of Tanzania. The largest and possibly most significant Swahili site in Tanzania is Tongoni, which is located 25 km north of the Pangani River. Overlooking Mtangata Bay, about forty standing tombs and a Friday mosque of the "northern" style occupy a third of a hectare. People from the area continue to worship there spiritually. They bury their departed family members to the south of the historic tombs. The area was a different place four to five centuries ago. Contrary to its almost unnoticed presence today, it was a prosperous and a respected Swahili trading centre during the 15th century. Most of the ruins are still not yet been uncovered. The site is a registered National Historic Site.

Tongoni was established around the tenth century by Swahili residents as part of the Swahili city states dotted along the East African coast.[1][2]

The Swahili period (1250–1550 C.E.) saw connections between regional groups and societies in the Indian Ocean, however they were only moderately intense. Thus, the "Golden Age" of the Swahili (1250/1350-1550 C.E., but especially the earlier centuries within this range) influenced littoral settlers in northeastern Tanzania, although not nearly to the extent felt at Kilwa on the southern Swahili coast (where the gold trade flourished 1200-1350 C.E.) or at Mombasa and Malindi in Kenya.[3]

Late in this era, Tongoni and Swahili villages on Tanga Island (in the harbour of Tanga Town) also began to grow into prominent towns. Mombasa in particular developed into a significant power. Tongoni may have had the chance to escape Mombasa, its northern neighbour, for a while by an eventual alliance with foreign invaders, the Portuguese.[4] Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese sailor, first visited Tongoni in April 1498. He had the opportunity to eat the local oranges, which he said were better than those available in Portugal. He made a second visit the following year, and spent fifteen days in Tongoni.[5]


Foreign objects were discovered during inspections and excavations in low-lying Swahili sites like Tongoni along the Pangani River region, including glass beads and early Middle Eastern pottery like hatched sgraffiato. These early TIW artefacts and specimens indicate that Swahili sites in the region developed somewhere in the first millennium C.E., most likely by 1250 C.E. Investigations have shown that the sites upriver (such Kumbamtoni, Site 52a) were really created before Muhembo (Site 37 in Survey Unit 4) and Tongoni. The majority of the commodities that the villagers along the river produced were used locally. The majority (80%, n = 44 of 55) of the beads at Kumbamtoni (Site 52a) are fashioned of marine mollusk shell, not glass, in contrast to Muhembo and Tongoni. Ceramic and stone bead grinders are more common along the river than at Muhembo and Tongoni, where they are much less common. Swahili bowls were also decorated by riverine inhabitants using graphite from the Usambara Mountains (e.g., Kumbamtoni, Site 52a, Excavation Unit 2).[6]

The situation along the Swahili coast changed after 1550 C.E. Unlike Mombasa, the majority of coastal communities in the western Indian Ocean experienced a decline in population, influence, or even total collapse. By 1600 CE and 1850 CE, respectively, ceramics from the Post-Swahili and Post-Post-Swahili periods were widely used in settlements. The earliest of these times at Pangani were characterised by diffuse habitation. Sites found during the survey with only Post-Swahili content are noticeably smaller than those from previous Swahili times. Instead, findings from sites with mostly Swahili artefacts only make up a small portion of Post-Swahili remains.[7]

Larger communities like Muhembo attracted coastal residents after 1550 C.E. This explanation explains why shellfish intake declined at sites near the Pangani River, such as Kumbamtoni and Site 52a, but increased at bigger sites with massive remains, such as Muhembo, along with a consequent decline in species variety. The increase in shellfish consumption at big sites was especially noticeable outside of coral structures (Muhembo, excavation units 1 and 2; Tongoni, excavation units 2 and 3). Shellfish is forbidden for orthodox Muslims. Therefore, patterns in shellfish consumption over the past 750 years reveal that many non-Muslim Africans who were living in the countryside between 1250 and 1550 C.E. eventually moved to less-monumental areas of larger locations during the Post-Swahili era.[8]

The Tongoni community made an effort to adapt to the fast changes that occurred on the coast starting in 1500 C.E., including climate changes during the "Little Ice Age" (1500–1750), Portuguese incursions, and fights for resources and power in the hinterland. Unique artefacts and higher shellfish consumption in the area suggest that locals tried to change their way of life and develop coping mechanisms (e.g., Tongoni, Excavation Unit 3, levels 5-7). Examples of hinterland ceramics from this time period can be found at sites along the coast, including Group D (at Tongoni, Excavation Unit 2) and a rouletted tradition that is probably from western Tanzania. These and other tangible hints point to increased contact between groups and along the shore.[9]

The hypothesis that findings from Excavation Unit 3 (at Tongoni) indicate the home of a healer is supported by faceted carnelian beads, a face carving, oyster nut seeds, complete conch shells, and other unusual finds, such as a stone used for slaughtering (with a red stain). Kweme seeds have hinterland and riverine associations, which point to geographic ties in many coastwise healing traditions. Sites further inland along the shore also show signs of healing traditions. Such customs are influenced by both Indian Ocean and Mainland African cultures. Although some aspects of healing along the coast may date back thousands of years, it's likely that the tensions that emerged after 1550 C.E. boosted the importance of healing and divination.[10]

The nineteenth century saw an increase in the worldwide traffic in slaves and ivory as well as the influence of Omani (and European) plantation agriculture, which amplified the pressures from earlier eras. People fled to hamlets outside from Pangani Town, the occupied administrative centre during the colonial period. The abundance of new glass bead varieties and the abundance of pottery from India, China, and Europe are artefacts at Gombero that show greater foreign engagement. Villagers in Gombero and other locations along Tanzania's northeastern coast (such as Tongoni, Excavation Unit 3 and Mtakani, Site 51a, Excavation Unit 1) frequently ate mud whelks during the last few centuries, possibly as a result of diminishing food supplies (and a growing population). As an alternative, plantation enslavement might have hindered local food production and/or reduced available options (such as hunting).[11]

Villagers used carinated bowls (dependent, constrained vessels) to prepare their rice and veggies. Swahili-speaking patricians working in these circumstances were influenced by changes in the culture and economy to further set themselves apart from hinterland "pagans" (non-Muslims), in part by exaggerating tales about foreign origins.[12]

^ Lane, Paul J. (2012). "Maritime and Shipwreck Archaeology in the Western Indian Ocean and Southern Red Sea: An Overview of Past and Current Research". Journal of Maritime Archaeology. 7 (1): 9–41. Bibcode:2012JMarA...7....9L. doi:10.1007/s11457-012-9102-0. JSTOR 43551368. S2CID 161059259. ^ Askew, Kelly M. (1999). "Female Circles and Male Lines: Gender Dynamics along the Swahili Coast". Africa Today. 46 (3/4): 67–102. doi:10.1353/at.2003.0084. JSTOR 4187285. S2CID 144367188. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Lane, Paul J. (2012). "Maritime and Shipwreck Archaeology in the Western Indian Ocean and Southern Red Sea: An Overview of Past and Current Research". Journal of Maritime Archaeology. 7 (1): 9–41. Bibcode:2012JMarA...7....9L. doi:10.1007/s11457-012-9102-0. JSTOR 43551368. S2CID 161059259. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010. ^ Walz, Jonathan R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE. Diss. University of Florida, 2010.
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