european travellers often mentioning something along the lines of "never witnessed such order and real elegance in Africa" abt almost every major african kingdom
was more about their preconceptions of the african states than that african state's uniqueness relative to their peers https://twitter.com/YorubaHistory/status/1248902888610562048

great zimbabwe is but one of about a thousands similar zimbabwes,
kilwa and gedi were two of over a thousand swahili cities and towns
timbuktu was but one of dozens of west african scholarly capitals https://uncensoredopinion.co.za/great-zimbabwe-and-the-stone-ruins-of-southern-africa-myths-realities-and-new-discoveries/

there are around 20 swahili cities in this thread, all from the "classical swahili era" ie; before the portuguese and omanis

i could add one each week for 10 years and still would cover half of them so i'll include the more famous ones https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/999019110133649409