Mahilaka

Mahilaka was a Swahili Muslim trading town on Ampasindava Bay in northwestern Madagascar. Founded by Antalaotra migrants from East Africa, it linked the island to the Comoros and the Swahili coast.

In the fifteenth century Mahilaka was abandoned and its port role passed to Vohemar. Its walled settlement had stone houses and mosques, as well as a central stone building that may have been a ruler's palace. Some scholars link the rise of Guingemaro to slaves who escaped from Mahilaka; in 1640 its king was considered the island’s most powerful ruler by English merchants.