Pujini Ruins

Pujini Ruins are the remains of a fortified palace complex in Pujini village, Chake Chake District, on Pemba island, dated by archaeologists to the 12th-14th century CE and abandoned by the 17th century. Local tradition attributes the site to a ruler known as Mkame Mdume. Built of coral rag in Swahili and Islamic architectural style, the complex originally comprised moated ramparts up to 5 metres high enclosing roughly 15 hectares, an underground chamber, and a two-storey reception hall measuring about 46 by 8 metres — described by researchers as the only known early fortification of its kind on the entire Swahili coast. Today only the wall ruins and a stairway leading up to a rampart remain visible. The site is a listed National Historic Site of Tanzania, managed by the Antiquities Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, with public access permitted and no active excavation underway.