The Swahili communities of the East African coast have often been characterized as middlemen, defined by their ability to navigate – often quite literally – the economic networks linking the African Interior and the Indian Ocean rim. Yet diversity has increasingly been recognized between Swahili communities. In this paper I add to the awareness and explication of Swahili diversity through comparative analysis of the archaeology of the southern Tanzanian town of Mikindani. In particular, I work to extend our knowledge of political and economic competition in East Africa backwards from the better documented nineteenth century. For Mikindani, its inhabitants’ changing abilities to access certain kinds of ceramics trace the competitive structures of this part of the coast and provide evidence for their success or failure in navigating a complex economic landscape.