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Summaries · Grade 7 History › Indian Ocean trade and the interior, 800–1600
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Indian Ocean trade and the interior, 800–1600

Indian Ocean trade and the interior (800–1600): Kilwa, Sofala, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and the Mutapa. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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Power and trade

  • Whoever controls a trade route can tax it and reward followers: that is how trade brings political power. Tribute is goods or labour given to a ruler.
  • The gold objects in graves on Mapungubwe hill show rulers were richer than ordinary people. South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe meet near Mapungubwe.
  • A dry-stone wall: stones stacked with nothing to hold them. Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa in the 1330s.
Kilwa: a trading city on the Swahili coast.
Kilwa: a trading city on the Swahili coast.
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How we know

The make-up of glass beads shows where and when they were made. Historians use archaeology, oral tradition and traders’ records. Thulamela in the Kruger National Park was part of this trading world.

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Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • The interior exported gold, ivory and skins; glass beads, cloth and ceramics came in.
  • The seasonal monsoon winds made the trade possible; a dhow is a wooden sailing ship of the Indian Ocean.
  • Swahili grew out of this trade and Islam spread along the coast. Kilwa was one of the richest ports; Sofala linked the Zimbabwean goldfields to the sea.
  • Mapungubwe (1200s) → Great Zimbabwe (dry-stone walls, soapstone birds; wealth from cattle, gold and trade routes) → the Mutapa state.
  • After about 1500 the Portuguese took over ports like Sofala and Kilwa.

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Memory trick

Sofala is the sea gate for Zimbabwe’s gold; Kilwa is the king of ports.

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Important words

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