Swahili << swah HEE lee >> are an African people of mixed Bantu and Arab ancestry. The Swahili live along the east coast of Africa, from Somalia to Mozambique. The word Swahili means coast people. The Swahili language, known by the Swahili as Kiswahili, is used in East Africa for business and communication among various ethnic groups. It serves as the official language of Kenya and Tanzania. All the Swahili are Muslims.
Historians believe that Arab traders began to settle in East African coastal villages about the time of Jesus Christ. The native and Arab cultures gradually mixed and developed into the Swahili civilization. From about 1200 to 1500, many Swahili city-states became thriving commercial centers. They included Kilwa, Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, and Zanzibar. The Swahili traded gold, ivory, and enslaved people from the African interior for goods from China, India, and Persia.
During the 1500’s and 1600’s, the Portuguese looted numerous Swahili cities and seriously damaged the Swahili trade. In the early 1700’s, Omani Arabs replaced the Portuguese as rulers of the Swahili people.
