_ 129 _ certain Malay kingdoms. Owing to geographical obstacles and the poor condition of the roads, the ports were often more closely linked with each other than with the principal towns of the states of which they were part. A position at the end of a caravan route or on a river mouth was always a likely factor in bringing prosperity. The political existence of most of those countries near the Indian Ocean which lay along important routes was a disturbed one. The Christian kingdom of Ethiopia was challenged by the holy war undertaken against it by its Muslim neighbours, meanwhile it was attempting to win a way of access to the sea in the direction of Massawa and Suakin, places which it was occasionally successful in dominating. Further south, on the edge of an impenetrable land region, the maritime fringe of East Africa had been colonized by Arab and Persian immigrants who had set up small theocratic sultanates. Quiloa may be given as an example of these, since the model held for the entire coast from Mogadishu to Zanzibar. Quiloa had been founded by Persians from Shiraz and became the dominating power along the coast. The port had a well-sheltered situation and faced one of the few routes which led into the interior. The town itself was unwalled and not constructed according to any plan;
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