Search places, or jump to a section
The catalogue
3 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Submerged site
Medieval to Modern (c. 8th – 1922 CE) · Beja / Hadhrami Arab / Ottoman Egyptian
Former African Red Sea capital built entirely of coral rag — 19th-century houses collapsing into lagoon fringing reef.
🇰🇪 Kenya · Ancient city
Swahili (Middle to Late Swahili 1200–1650 CE) · Swahili (Arab-African Bantu + Shirazi myth; Mijikenda fringe)
Abandoned 3 km-walled Swahili coral city in coastal forest with Great Mosque, 45-room Palace with Ming porcelain insets and planned grid.
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Ancient city
Swahili Coast Medieval (9th–19th c; Sultanate peak 1100–1500) · Swahili (Bantu-Arab-Persian) / Shirazi dynasty / Portuguese interlude
Swahili stone-town entrepôt (9th–19th c) controlling Indian Ocean gold trade from Sofala and Great Zimbabwe: Gereza fortress (Portuguese 1505), Great Mosque (oldest sub-Saharan mosque 1131–1770…
