The Importance of Archipelagoes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Islands around Africa: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The role of islands in the western Indian Ocean has been well explored by archaeologists and historians, who point to a combination of natural and social advantages created by these bounded worlds. What has been less commented upon is the role of archipelagoes as crucial units of exploration. In this paper, I review the archaeology and history of archipelagoes along the eastern African coast, suggesting that they were central to social development and connectivity in the region between the seventh and fifteenth centuries CE. The Kilwa archipelago of southern Tanzania is then the focus of a discussion of archipelagoes as urban clusters, drawing on recent research from the region. The paper suggests that archipelagoes not only offer important settings for social growth, but that the natural advantages of the setting also contained the seeds of disaster for the inhabitants during the period of European colonialism from the sixteenth century onward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Islands around Africa: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40081.0