The ruins of Gedi are a UNESCO World Heritage site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Since the rediscovery of the Gedi ruins by colonialists in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensely excavated and studied sites, along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros. Gedi is one of many medieval Swahili coastal settlements that stretch from Barawa, Somalia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. There are 116 known Swahili sites stretching from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu at the Kenya-Tanzania border.
The earliest evidence for occupation at Gedi is a grave marker that has been radiocarbon dated to between 1041 and 1278, placing the original settlement of the site sometime in the eleventh or early twelfth century, supporting an estimated population of 2,500 inhabitants at its peak. Despite the absence of historical documents specifically mentioning Gedi, it is considered to be one of the most important sites along the coast. The adoption of Islam by the inhabitants in the twelfth century is marked by the presence of three superimposed mosques in the northern area the city, which were constructed during the twelfth to the fourteenth century. The style of architecture and the absence of minarets characteristic of all of Gedi's mosques has been used to suggest that the locals were influenced by the Ibadite denomination.
Gedi was abandoned by the middle of the seventeenth century. The presence of the Portuguese from the sixteenth century has been considered one of the primary factors in Gedi's eventual abandonment with their attempts to monopolize trade and due to armed intervention. A drop in the water table seen with the deepening of the well next to the Great Mosque, a Wazimba raid along the coast in 1589, and Oromo migrations and raids from Somalia may have been additional factors in the abandonment of Gedi and most of the mainland coastal sites north of Mombasa.
The Gedi ruins make up a site consisting of 45 acres (18 hectares) that lies in the primeval Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. The ancient town at Gedi is divided by two walls, with an outer wall enclosing 45 acres (18 hectares) and an inner wall enclosing 18 acres (7.3 hectares).
Within the inner wall there are two mosques, a palace or Sheikh's house, four large houses, several clustered houses, and four large pillar tombs comprising the urban core. The inner wall also encloses four other houses and three other mosques. Between the inner and outer walls few stone structures have been identified with the exception of two mosques. Immediately beyond the outer wall there is one mosque and several other unidentified structures. (Wikipedia)