Sofala (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Monomotapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. One of the oldest harbours documented in Southern Africa, medieval Sofala was erected on the edge of a wide estuary formed by the Buzi River. Sofala was founded about the year 700 AD. The Arabs had frequented the coast since 915, followed by traders from Persia. The Buzi river connected Sofala to the internal market town of Manica, and from there to the goldfields of Great Zimbabwe and the Monomatapa. Sometime in the 10th C., Sofala emerged as a small trading post erected by Arab merchants from Mogadishu, to trade cotton cloth for Monomatapa gold and ivory.