|
|
|
|
|
MY VISIT TO THE ANCIENT TOWN OF GEDI IN KENYA by Helen Broadus
The area excavated comprises the northwest corner of the town, with the Great Mosque, the Palace, a private mosque and the largest concentration of houses. The original town covered an area of about fifty-five acres, but it is probable that only part of this area was ever fully built up and the poorer dwellings would have had mud and wattle walls, roofed with palm-leaf or grass thatch. The town was surrounded by a wall, about nine feet high, with three or more gates. The general building material consisted of coral rag, earth and coral lime. The people who lived at Gedi were neither luxurious nor cultured, but had most of what contributed in their day to good living. The general layout of the town also shows that the streets were established in the earliest days of the town's construction which proves that it was a deliberate creation and not a haphazard collection of houses. Several interesting artifacts were found throughout the town and are on display at the small museum nearby. Other more elaborate artifacts found in Gedi are stored at the Museum in Fort Jesus located in Mombassa.
Venue International Professionals, Inc. (VIP), is an African-American owned travel and tourism company, based in the Washington Metropolitan Area that specializes on the African continent. For more information about VIP, please contact Helen C. Broadus, President of VIP at (301) 856-9188 [VOICE]; (301) 868-2218 [FAX]; vipinc@erols.com [E-MAIL]; and also visit VIP's website at www.venuetravel.com. |
||
Washington,
D.C . After concluding a successful Jubilee Congress of the
Africa Travel Association (ATA) which was held in Nairobi,
Kenya May 15-20, 2005, I had the pleasure of taking a
relaxing post-tour to Mombassa along the southeast coast of
Kenya. While there I decided to visit the historic ancient
site known as Gedi situated between Mombassa and Malindi. It
basically consists of the ruins of a fifteenth century
Arab-American town, typical of a number of towns up and down
the coast of East Africa. Approximately sixty-five miles
from Mombassa, Gedi was founded in the late thirteenth or
early fourteenth century and reached its height of
development in the middle of the fifteenth century. It was
finally abandoned in the early seventeenth century. The
actual reason for its establishment is unknown and it was
considered to be of no political or commercial importance by
the Portuguese, Arab or Swahili. However, the unique
architectural features and quantity of porcelain items found
in the ruins shows that it must have had a large and
relatively prosperous population.
In
the sixteenth century something seems to have happened which
brought Gedi's life temporarily to an end. It is possible
that Gedi was destroyed by the Mombassa punitive expedition
which was sent against Malindi after the destruction of
Mombassa by Nuno da Cunha in April 1529, in which the people
of Malindi had cooperated. The name Gedi, or more properly
Gede, is a Galla word meaning "precious" and is also used as
a personal name. It was either the Galla name for the town
or the name of the Galla leader who camped on the site. The
Galla were nomadic people from Somalia. In 1884, Gedi was
visited by Sir John Kirk, the British Resident of Zanzibar.
It was then forgotten for fifty years, but in 1927 was
mentioned as a historical monument but received very few
visitors. In 1948 Gedi was declared a National Park and
excavations were begun and continued until 1958.
Responsibility for its administration was taken over by the
Museum Trustees in 1969. For further information about Gedi,
please contact the Gedi Historical Monument & Museum
located in Malindi.