The
Swahili are a people and culture found on the coast of
East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of
Kenya and
Tanzania, and north
Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000.
[1] The name ''Swahili'' is derived from the
Arabic word ''Sawahil'', meaning "coastal dwellers", and they speak the
Swahili language. They also speak the official languages of their respective countries:
English in Tanzania and Kenya,
Portuguese in Mozambique and
Somali in Somalia, and
French in Comoros. Note that only a small fraction of those who use Swahili are
first language speakers and even fewer are ethnic Swahilis.
Definition
The Swahili are original
Bantu inhabitants of the East African Coast mainly from
Kenya,
Tanzania, and
Mozambique. They are mainly united by culture and under the mother tongue of
Kiswahili, a
Bantu language.
[2] This also extends to Arab, Persian, and other migrants who reached the coast some believe as early as the 7th-8th c. CE, and mixed with the local people there, providing considerable cultural infusion and numerous loan words from
Arabic and
Persian.
[3] Archaeologist, Felix Chami notes the presence of
Bantu settlements straddling the
East African coast as early as the beginning of the
1st millennium. They evolved gradually from the
6th century onward to accommodate for an increase in trade (mainly with Arab merchants), population growth, and further centralized urbanization; developing into what would later become known as the Swahili City-States.
[4]
Religion
Islam established its presence in the East African coast from around 1012 AD, when the traders from the
Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Peninsula continued to journey to these parts during monsoon seasons and to interact with the local people through trade, intermarriage, and an exchange of ideas. Because of this interaction, most of the Swahili today are Muslim. The unifying force of Islam consolidated into an amalgam of otherwise different ethnicities and provided an enduring common identity for many of the people in coastal East Africa. The Swahili follow a very strict and orthodox form of Islam. They believe in
jinns and most men wear protective amulets around their necks, which contain verses from the Koran.
Divination is practiced through Koranic readings. Often the diviner incorporates verses from the
Qu'ran into treatments for certain diseases. On occasion, he instructs a patient to soak a piece of paper containing verses of the Qu'ran in water. With this ink infused water, literally containing the word of Allah, the patient will then wash his body or drink it to cure himself of his affliction. It is only prophets and teachers of Islam who are permitted to become medicine men among the Swahili.
2
Economy
For centuries the Swahili depended greatly on trade from the Indian Ocean. The Swahili have played a vital role as
middle man between east, central and south Africa, and the outside world. Trade contacts have been noted as early as
100 A.D. by early
Roman writers who visited the
East African coast in the first century. Trade routes extended across Tanzania into modern day Zaire, along which goods were brought to the coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders. Materials attributed to this network of trade were also found at
Great Zimbabwe. During the apogee of the middle ages, ivory and slaves became a substantial source of revenue. Many slaves sold in Zanzibar ended up in Brazil, which was then a Portuguese colony. Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. Fish is sold to their inland neighbors in exchange for products of the interior.
Architecture
Previously thought by many scholars to be essentially of
Arabic or
Persian style and origin; archaeological, written, linguistic, and cultural evidence instead suggests a predominantly African genesis and sustainment. This would be accompanied later by an enduring Arabic and
Islamic influence in the form of trade, inter-marriage, and an exchange of ideas.
[5][6] Upon visiting
Kilwa in
1331, the great
Berber explorer
Ibn Battuta was impressed by the substantial beauty that he encountered there. He describes its inhabitants as "''Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces''", and notes that "''Kulwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and all its buildings are of wood''" (his description of
Mombasa was essentially the same).
[7] Kimaryo points out that the distinctive tattoo marks are common among the
Makonde. Architecture included arches, courtyards, isolated women's quarters, the
mihrab, towers, and decorative elements on the buildings themselves. Many ruins may still be observed near the southern Kenyan port of
Malindi in the
Gede ruins (''the lost city of Gede/Gedi'').
[8]
Sources
1. Swahili people listing - JoshuaProject, Retrieved on 2007-08-28
2. http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Swahili.html
3. Gilbert. Coastal East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean
4. African Archaeological Review, Volume 15, Number 3, September 1998 , pp. 199-218(20)
5. East African Coastal Historical Towns: Asiatic or African? - by Jacob L. Kimaryo (2000)
6. Mark Horton, Shanga: a Muslim Trading Community on the East African Coast (Nairobi: 1996)
7. Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354 - Medieval Sourcebook, Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
8. Ruins of the walled city of Gedi, Kenya
See also
★
Swahili language
★
Swahililand
★
Swahili architecture
External links
★
The Story of Africa: The Swahili — BBC World Service
★
Swahili Culture
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