A defining feature of the architecture of the Swahili Coast—apart from its coral stone buildings and mangrove poles used to elaborate those structures—is undoubtedly the ornamented door so commonly found across this coastal area. Richly decorated, and historically often layered with meaning, these doors, apart from serving the more utilitarian function of an entrance, were also signifiers of status and wealth. From this Swahili Coast to the Arabian Peninsula, these doors of the coast are very much markers of their location, representative of trade and migration.
The East African coast, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had developed into an interconnected web of trade centers, as goods were exchanged between the African continent, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and the Far East. Consequently, the city-states of Lamu and Zanzibar grew powerful, and this partly led to foreign exploration, as the coast came to be under the control of the Portuguese, and later, the Omani state.
