Excursion à Pemba Ras Mkumbuu

Ras Mkumbuu is the headland at the end of the thin strip of land jutting into the sea northwest of Chake Chake about 10 km from Chake Chake Town. The archaeological site of Ras Mkumbuu was a 10th century trading port on the east coast of Africa with a substantial Muslim occupation. A sunken town has been found under the sea, the pillars and the tombs are unique, and decorated with chinese bowls.

It is the site of the ruins of a large mosque with an arched mihrab, fourteen elaborate and decorated pillar tombs, several wells and foundations of houses estimated to date from around the 14th century. In the early 10th century Ras Mkumbuu become one of the major cities along the East

African coast and was an important site in Pemba's history, being the site one of the island's most important early settlements,
Qanbalu, which is now a ruin. The small village of Ngagu is now the peninsula's main settlement. New archaeological research shows that there were human settlements dating back to 6th century at Ras Mkumbuu in Pemba. Some 12th century ruins in this area shows that there were human settlements before the arrival of Omani Arabs and the Shiraz in Zanzibar.