View source for Takwa

{{Short description|Ruins of a town on Manda Island in  Kenya}}
{{Use Kenyan English|date=January 2023}}
The '''Takwa''' settlement is situated on  the south side of [[Manda Island]], in the [[Lamu District]] in the coastal province of [[Kenya]]. They are the ruins of a  town which was abandoned around the 18th century.

The Takwa site can be easily reached from [[Lamu]] town. The ruins  were first excavated by James Kirkman in 1951. In 1972 the site was cleared again under the supervision of James de Vere Allen, the Curator of the Lamu Museum.

Takwa was never a large place. It was founded around 1500, and probably abandoned around 1700. Kirkman thought that it was perhaps a place where holy men or religious people retreated. The Great Mosque at Takwa is relatively well preserved. The other structure of importance is the Pillar Tomb, which has an inscription with the date of 1681–1682.
It is reported that when Takwa was abandoned, its inhabitants settled just across the bay at [[Lamu Island#Shela|Shela]] on [[Lamu Island]]. Twice a year the people of Shela come to the Pillar Tomb in Takwa to pray  for rain.<ref>Martin, 1973, p. 27</ref>  The Takwa Ruins were designated a Kenyan National Monument in 1982.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:TakwaBuilding.jpg|Takwa Ruins-Building
Image:TakwaWall.jpg|Takwa Ruins-Wall
Image:TakwaArch.jpg|Takwa Ruins-[[Mihrab]]
Image:Takwa Ruins Wudu 2011.jpg|Takwa Ruins [[Wudu]]
Image:Takwa_Ruins_Mosque_2011.JPG|Takwa Ruins Mosque wall
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[List of Swahili settlements of the East African coast|Historic Swahili Settlements]]
*[[Swahili architecture]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Commons category|Takwa}}
*Martin, Chryssee MacCasler Perry and Esmond Bradley Martin:  ''Quest for the Past. An historical guide to the Lamu Archipelago.'' 1973.

==Further reading==
*Wilson, Thomas H.: ''Takwa: An Ancient Swahili Settlement of the Lamu Archipelago.''  Kenya Museum Society.

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{{Lamu Archipelago}}
{{Archaeological sites in Kenya}}

[[Category:Swahili people]]
[[Category:Swahili city-states]]
[[Category:Swahili architecture]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Kenya]]
[[Category:Populated places in Coast Province]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Kenya]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa]]


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