Where is the Swahili Coast?
The Swahili Coast is a 1,800-mile stretch of Kenyan and Tanzanian coastline along the eastern edge of Africa from Somalia in the north to Mozambique in the south. This coastal region is home to a unique culture and language—a multicultural polyglot of African, Arab, and Indian Ocean peoples. Swahili coast cultures are diverse African cultures, made up of a confluence of peoples. They are traders and farmers, cattle keepers, & fisher people who have moved and interacted across land and sea for centuries. Swahili means “people of the coast” in Arabic. The coast and its links with external cultures has been overemphasized at the expense of the role of inland populations.
Background
- It has been the site of cultural and commercial exchanges between East Africa and the outside world - particularly the Middle East, Asia, and Europe since at least the 2nd century.
- The earliest coastal communities practiced iron working, and were mainly subsistence farmers and river fishers, who supplemented their economy with hunting, keeping livestock, fishing in the ocean, and trading with outsiders.
- By around the 9th century A.D., Africans, Arabs, and Persians who lived and traded on the coast had developed a lingua franca, Swahili, or Kiswahili, a language based on the Bantu language Sabaki that uses Arab and Persian loan words. They had also developed the distinctive Swahili culture, characterized by the almost universal practice of Islam, as well as by Arabic and Asian-influenced art and architectural styles.
- Slave trade on the Swahili Coast supplied slaves to the sultan (a Muslim Sovereign) of Zanzibar as well as to Europeans.
What goods from the African interior did they trade?
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Trade routes connected the Swahili Coast to which regions of the world?
- Middle East
- Europe
- Indian Ocean
What elements of culture connected the people of these regions?
- The practice of Islam, Arabic, and Asian-influenced art and architectural styles.
Bibliography:
- “Ancient to Medieval History.” Ancient to Medieval History | African Studies Center, www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/teachingresources/history/ancient-to-medieval-history/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2023.
- “The People of the Swahili Coast.” National Geographic: Education, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/people-coast/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2023.
- “Wonders of the African World - the Swahili Coast.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 1999, www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi2/swahi_2.htm.