The remains of two great East African ports admired by ear­ly Euro­pean explor­ers are sit­u­at­ed on two small islands near the coast. From the 13th to the 16th cen­tu­ry, the mer­chants of Kil­wa dealt in gold, sil­ver, pearls, per­fumes, Ara­bi­an crock­ery, Per­sian earth­en­ware and Chi­nese porce­lain, much of the trade in the Indi­an Ocean thus passed through their hands.