Thursday, April 12, 2007

Gede Ruins

The Gede Ruins are in an area about 4Km from Watamu. They are one of the principle historical monuments on the coast and also one of the principle reasons why it was so painful to lose my camera in the Indian Ocean.

Gede was a city built of stone between the 13th and 14th centuries. Sometime around the 17th and 18th centuries the city was abandoned by it’s inhabitants and became lost when it was swallowed up by the overgrowth of dense forest. Mysteriously there is no historical record of Gede’s existence or it‘s people.

When the ruins were rediscovered around 1920 they uncovered an advanced and prosperous city surrounded by two walls. Excavations found ornate tombs, mosques, and the ruins of a great palace.

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