Gedi

Swahili · Kenya

Field notes

civilizations

Swahili

types

Village

occupied

1,100 CE — 1,600 CE

country

Kenya

The site

Gedi is a Swahili coastal town in Kenya, occupied from roughly 1100 to 1600 CE. Built of coral stone, its walls and ruined dwellings mark it as a node in the Indian Ocean trade world of the medieval Swahili coast. Now on Kenya's UNESCO tentative list, the abandoned village leaves later visitors puzzling over why so prosperous a place was ultimately left to the forest.

Nearby sites

~634 km

Kilwa Kisiwani

~1,314 km

Tiya archaeological site

~1,709 km

Lalibela

~1,944 km

Aksum