Ruins of Gedi

The Ruins of Gedi are the remains of a Swahili town located in Gedi, a village near the coastal town of Malindi in Kenya.

From the 13th or 14th to 17th centuries, Gedi was a thriving community along the jungle coast of East Africa. Although no written record exists of this town, excavations between 1948 and 1958 revealed that the Muslim inhabitants traded with people from all over the world. Some of the findings included beads from Venice, coins and a Ming vase from China, an iron lamp from India, and scissors from Spain. The population was estimated to exceed at least 2500 people. These items can be found in the museum in the complex which was opened in 2000.

Gedi had a mosque, a palace, and large stone houses. These houses were complex for their time, with bathrooms with drains and overhead basins to flush toilets. The city's streets were laid out at right angles and had drainage gutters. There are also wells which supplied water to the community. The material used to construct the buildings was made from coral reef from the nearby ocean.

Gedi

Gede (also known as Gedi) is a village on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya, lying in Kilifi County, south of Malindi and north of Watamu. The Ruins of Gedi are located there. Although not thought to be mentioned in historic sources, extensive ruins of a former port have been dated to the thirteenth century or earlier, including a tomb with a date corresponding to 1399, until at least the seventeenth century. Later, the port was abandoned and not rediscovered until the 1920s.

The buildings are of coral, earth and plaster, some with designs inscribed. They include a mosque, palace, houses and tombs as well as a fort. The style is classified as Swahili architecture.

The modern village is home to a museum and a butterfly house.

Gede was part of the Malindi District (until it was eliminated in 2010) and it has an urban population of 600

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Gedi (mythology)

In the mythology of (Fiji), Gedi (Ngendi) is a fertility god who taught humanity the use of fire.