Swahili people: Difference between revisions
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==Religion== |
==Religion== |
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[[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.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} |
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Also as in many other continents Christianity also has a presence in many of the Waswahili people |
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==Economy== |
==Economy== |
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Revision as of 14:18, 19 January 2011
 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Comoros | |
| Languages | |
| Swahili, Portuguese, English, French | |
| Religion | |
| Islam, Christianity, traditional beliefs | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mijikenda, Makonde people, Shirazi[1] |
| Person | Mswahili |
|---|---|
| People | Waswahili |
| Language | Kiswahili |
| Country | Uswahili |
Swahili people, or Waswahili, are an ethnic group living chiefly on the Swahili Coast of East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya and Tanzania, and north Mozambique. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil, meaning "coastal dwellers". They speak Swahili (also known as Kiswahili), a Bantu language.
Definition
The Swahili are unique 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 Swahili, a Bantu language.[3] 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.[4] 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 centralised urbanisation; developing into what would later become known as the Swahili City-States.[5]
Language
Around 1.5 million people speak the Swahili language and it is Tanzania's and Kenya's official language. However, those who live elsewhere in East Africa also speak the official languages of their respective countries: Portuguese in Mozambique, 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. This point is often obscured by the Swahili linguistic tradition in which those who speak the language are often called Swahili (Waswahili) regardless of their actual ethnic origins. In other words, the term 'Swahili' can mean 'those who speak Swahili' or it can mean 'ethnic Swahili people'.
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Also as in many other continents Christianity also has a presence in many of the Waswahili people
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 Democratic Republic of the Congo, along which goods were brought to the coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders and even reached as far as China[6] and India[7]. Materials attributed to this network of trade were also found at Great Zimbabwe. During the economic culmination 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.[citation needed]
See also
- Swahililand
- Swahili culture
- Swahili language
- Swahili architecture
- Swahili Coast
- Kanzu
- Shirazi (ethnic group)
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Swahili people listing - JoshuaProject, Retrieved on 2007-08-28
- ^ Swahili People
- ^ Gilbert. Coastal East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean
- ^ African Archaeological Review, Volume 15, Number 3, September 1998 , pp. 199-218(20)
- ^ Swahili Sailors in Early China
- ^ The Story of Africa - BBC
External links
- The Story of Africa: The Swahili — BBC World Service
- Swahili Culture