- "Kilwa is one of the most beautifully built cities in the world; the houses there are entirely made of wood, their rooftops out of rope grass, and it rains with great vigour."
– Ibn Battuta
Kilwa Kisiwani is a Medieval Era Wonder in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. It must be built on a flat tile adjacent to Coast.
- Effects:
- +3 Envoy Envoys when built.
- When you are the Suzerain of a City-State this city receives a +15% boost to the yield provided by that City-State. If you are the Suzerain to 2 or more City-States of that type an additional +15% boost is given to all your cities.
Strategy
Kilwa Kisiwani encourages its owner to gain and maintain Suzerainty with as many city-states as possible, and the Envoy Envoys it provides will help with that goal. It can turn its city into an economic, religious, scientific, cultural, and/or productive powerhouse, and if the owner has close relations with more than one city-state of each type, all of his or her other cities will reap the benefits.
Pericles and Tamar should definitely attempt to build this wonder, which has excellent synergy with both of their leader abilities.
Civilopedia entry
The East African city-state Kilwa Kisiwani was once a major destination for trade in the Indian Ocean. Ivory, gold, and perfumes flowed through its markets. At its height, Kilwa Kisiwani contained some of the finest architecture in East Africa: the Great Mosque (which remained the world’s largest mosque until the 16th Century) and Husuni Kubwa (a classy palace), both of which survived to the modern day.
Kilwa Kisiwani flourished as a major trade city until the Portuguese arrived in 1498 to “make improvements” to the city’s infrastructure (if extorting tribute can be considered an improvement). Over the centuries, a series of foreign conquerors wrestled control of the city from one another, until it was abandoned in 1840.