The rise and fall of the Swahili civilization in East Africa

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The Swahili Civilization is another revelation of the creative genius of African people, that is apart from the Ancient Egyptian, Benin, Mali, and other empires in the history of the continent. This civilization was situated in the East African Coast with its building energy as well as its populace composed of African natives (Bantus) and their counterparts from Asia. It has been told through oral traditions that the Swahili People originated from the intermarriages between Africans and Asians who were brought together by the Indian Ocean Trade.

Swahili Civilization kilwa kisiwani
Ancient Swahili building in Kilwa, Tanzania.

Just as any other African civilization that debunked European and Asian superiority complex, or did not justified colonization, the Swahili Civilization had also fallen victim of whitewashing. Some foreign scholars went to the extent of opposing the existing oral tradition explaining the ethnicity of the Swahilis, that has been passed down from generation to generation. In spite of that, the Swahili people knew that they came equally from the African and Asian family line. Those scholars intended to distance African locals from their role in the creation of this mighty civilization in East Africa. They failed to recognize the evident truth that the native tribes were in fact the foundation of the civilization itself. However, this article will prove that the Swahili civilization had an African core, specifically Bantu, with borrowed influences from Asia.

Key Words: Civilization, Bantus, Whitewashing, Medieval, Indian Ocean Trade, Swahili Dialects, Pan-African, and Sultanates.  


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Understanding the Swahili Civilization

Many studies have revealed that African natives at the East African coast were equally great contributors of the Swahili Civilization. The most recent study in March 2023 includes an analysis of medieval DNA which reveal that it was indeed through the races’ intermingling that gave birth to the Swahili people with a multiracial identity. One of the leading archaeologists in the discovery, Chapurukha Kusimba, articulated that the Swahili population and especially the subjects of this study "were descended from people who began mixing around 1000.” [1] That is beginning from the 9th century. This would be supported by the fact that the Persians and Arabs are believed to sail to the East African coast in the 7th and 8th centuries. 

Writer Margaret Osborne of Smart News explains further on this study that was published on journal Nature. The study confirms that the DNA composition of the ancient Swahili people was largely made up the DNA from African Bantu women and Asian men. The genetic material supporting this discovery were drawn from the eighty DNA samples of exhumed bodies of medieval Swahili people (who lived from 1250 to 1800 C.E), and the saliva of their modern offspring. However, Osborne notes the limitation of this study as: “The team only took samples from people buried in elite Muslim cemeteries, which may not be representative of everyday citizens in the Swahili civilization.” [1] Since records indicate that the Africans assimilated into the elites were mainly Muslim converts, a DNA analysis on the general Swahili population in the medieval era would reveal more on Africans contributions to this civilization. 

Swahili Culture
Swahili Women in their cultural attire.

Another thing to note is that, the communities that make up the bigger Swahili people today include not only multiracial tribes but also black Africans. The Swahili tribes, specifically in Kenya, include; WaBajuni, WaLamu, WaMvita, Washirazi, Wavumba, etc whom are either black Africans or brown Africans. Throughout time, the Swahilis have also been reported to be strongly matriarchal; drawing heavily from their African mother’s side. Due to this fact, The New York Times explains that the Swahilis have retained a large aspect of their African languages and culture with certain outside influences like architecture, fashion and art which were absorbed into their predominantly African traditions. [1] Furthermore, Swahili language is today recognized as a Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family. [3]


Swahili Civilization at its Heydays

The Swahili civilization was located along the coast of Eastern Africa with a strong base in present day Kenya and Tanzanian countries. According to a paper by Elgidius B. Ichumbaki of the University of Dar es Salaam and Edward Pollard from the Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland, the larger civilization extended from Mogadishu in Somalia to Mozambique, it also included the Comoros Islands, and northern Madagascar. The emergence of the Swahili as a civilization is reported to have had its beginnings around the 7th century CE resulting from the Indian Ocean trade. Eventually, it grew extensively starting from the late middle ages in a time which spanned from the 11th to the 15th century. This growth was proportional to the Indian Ocean Trade. It was during this period that more sailors form the Asian world began to understand the monsoon winds. 

This knowledge now enabled Merchants to predict seasonal wind patterns and used this knowledge to their benefit. They could now confidently travel to ports all across the Indian Ocean, especially those on the eastern coast of Africa. At last Africans and Asians could now interact in whatever case be it trade and intermarriages. Additionally, this discovery brought in not just traded goods, but also religious ideas, specifically Islam, which become the backbone of the Civilization. 

Other accounts indicate that the development of the Swahili language was a necessity for the trade conversation between the African communities and the Asians. Furthermore, it is unanimously agreed that the development of the Swahili language gave a common cultural unity to the people that would be known as Swahilis. All those events united the East African coast at that time and made it a hub for trade among the Swahilis and inland Africa, the East and Southern Asia, and also Europe. Additionally, the Swahili Civilization is today accredited for its rich historical and material culture of iron working, cloth production, pottery, beads, and glass as well as monumental constructions that range from mosques built majestically from stones, tombs, kingdoms (Sultanates), and palaces.

Major Aspects of the Swahili Civilization

#1 Trade and Commerce

As discussed above, the Swahili Civilization was built on the basis of trading activities from The Indian Ocean Trade. The trade was among African natives, Asians, and Europeans. The Asian communities included the Arabs, Persians, Indians, and the Chinese who equally contributed to the commerce. This trade led to the import of various goods to the East African coast which included beads, porcelain, and silks. The Swahili Civilization on the other hand exported gold, enslaved Africans, animal skins, ivory, and mangrove poles. The civilization amused its wealth from this trading activities mainly from the involvement of the Bantu Swahili people serving as intermediaries and facilitators of the trade. Apart from foreign artistic influence, it is from that wealth that the Swahilis built magnificent infrastructure. Also from this trade, the coastal villages rose to become prosperous cities from all aspects. As per World Civilizations, most of the classical buildings belonged to wealth merchants and landowners who were very key in the overall commercial activities of the region.

#2. Society and Culture

The Swahili Civilization was made up of diverse cultures and societies which were unified under the general Swahili Culture. They all united and spoke the Swahili Language which is still spoken to date however with a slight variations ranging from community to community. Swahili societies were social in nature which is again relevant today. Another emphasis is that apart from it based on Africa, the societal and cultural aspects of the Swahili Civilization were largely guided by Islam beliefs and principles. The people practiced a mixed African and Asian Cultures including dressing codes. Swahili women are also known for their beautiful African fabrics – vitenge or lesos that are wrapped around their waists. This is a strong tradition that has survived overtime. The Swahilis also had mind awakening games such as ‘Bao’ which uniquely resembles checkers. Men will be seen gathering around to play as they share ideas, discuss the problems of the society and relax their minds.

Swahili Culture
Swahili cultural fabrics.

On matters of language, the Swahilis drew some lingual aspects from other communities like the Portuguese via some vocabularies such as bastola (gun), bendera (flag), nanasi (pineapple), gereza (prison), etc. that are found in the Swahili language today. Also, one cannot write about the Swahili culture without mentioning its popular music, Taarab, that has a huge fan base in East Africa today. You can also not close your ears to the smooth, wise and relaxing lyrics of Taarab. Most importantly, the sweet melodious voice that commands the rhythm of this genre of music is what puts the last colour mark in the portrait of its beauty. Swahili language also commands other musical genres like East Africa’s Bongo, Afropop, and the Swahili Hiphop music which has conscious musicians and history enthusiasts that use the avenue to share knowledge. In addition, there are wise Swahili saying that have also been used to pass down wisdom from the past. They are part of the many African proverbs.

Swahili men playing bao
Swahili men playing 'bao.'


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Swahili cuisine is also another unignorably aspect of the Swahili Culture. Just like other Swahili cultures that have been enriched by diversity, Swahili cuisine has its foreign influences mainly from Indian and Arabic cultures. However, the most common Swahili cuisine, among others, are fish, tropical fruits, together with exotic spices which are grown locally as well as imported. Anyone who has ever visited the Swahili coast cannot fail to praise Swahili women for their prowess in preparing mouthwatering and spicy delicacies. It is the spicy aspect of coastal dishes that stand out from other cultures in the region. 

#3. Architecture and Urban Centers

At the peak of this civilization, researchers credit it for its rich arts. The diversity of the Swahili Civilization is another thing to be recognized for these rich multicultural influences that ranges from furniture to architecture to powerful kingdoms. One important thing to note is that the Swahilis as known to be multicultural, maintained this through their semi-autonomous cities along the coast. And mark you, even the Swahili language which generally cuts across all the contributing communities varied from one city to another. Swahilis recognized themselves in their relevant cities and not tribes. Some still do it today. For example, there were the Waamu and Wamvita who were people respectively from Lamu and Mombasa in Kenya, the Wapemba who were the people from Pemba in Tanzania etc. The various Swahili dialects include but not limited to Kiamu, Kimvita, Kipemba.

Nevertheless, there are also reports that clearly show Swahili cities as emerging before foreign interaction. Writing for The International Journal of African Historical Studies in a paper titled ‘Early Swahili History Reconsidered’ scholar Thomas Spear confirms that Swahili coastal sites developed locally with the creation of small social agricultural and fishing communities before the arrival of the Persians. It has also been established that most of the cities and states were later colonized by Arabs and Persian whom Margaret Osborne explains from the DNA analysis spoken above that the later are mostly accredited as the fathers of the multiracial Swahili offspring. The coming of the Asians should also be given its due credit for the introduction of new architectural designs at the coast. They can be evident today through the sites of Kilwa, Lamu, Malindi, Gedi, Pate, Comoros, and Zanzibar.

Gede Ruins a Swahili Civilization
Gede Ruins in Malindi, Kenya.

Swahili communities are also praised for the introduction of sustainable building techniques in East Africa. They began using coral stones to build their cities as early as the 13th century. Additionally, the cities were urban-centered, cosmopolitan and politically independent of one another. One of the significant city is the Kilwa Sultanate that was established at an island off modern-day Tanzania. This city-state was founded in the 10th century by a Persian prince, Ali ibn al-Hassan, and later grew into a largely diverse empire that included Africans and Arabs. According to the World Civilization article, Kilwa Sultanate at its peak controlled the whole of the Swahili Coast of East Africa. This Sultanate is specifically known for its urban-centered life that it is reported there was rare agricultural activities. The people were largely traders and they bought food from the Africans in the mainland.

Another sultanate that was part of the large Swahili Civilization was the Island of Zanzibar in modern Tanzania. The word Zanzibar is Arabic, it is translated from another borrowed Arabic word Zanjibar which means ‘the land of blacks’ in reference to the original inhabitants of that land. On the other side in Kenya, there were Lamu and Mombasa Islands in Kenya. According to UNESCO World Heritage Center, Lamu is attributed as the cradle of the Swahili Civilization. It is also the most preserved of the old Swahili Cities. Today there are almost 170 identified cities that were part of the civilization. All these cities were similarly influenced by the general Swahili culture as in Kilwa. 

Decline and Legacy of the Swahili Civilization

Swahili Civilization declined with the falling of the city-states that were the cornerstone for its overall existence. This happened in the 16th Century with the main contributing factor as the invasion of those cities by the Portuguese. As per National Geographic, it should be noted that the arrival of the Portuguese was chaotic in the sense that they undertook brutal measures to take control of the Indian Ocean Trade and all commercial activities at the East African Coast. In that regard, they established military bases in several cities along the Swahili Coast. One of the military sites was Fort Jesus in Mombasa. It was the essence of the fort to control trade routes, offer a safe harbor for Portuguese ships, and to project Portuguese power aiming to intimidate its rivals. The Portuguese also set up a customs house at Pate Island in Tanzanian that aimed to control commercial activities of the Indian Ocean trade as well as the imposition of taxes. This led to the decline of the trade with Swahili trading centers going out of business. Ultimately, commerce between Africa and Asia on the Indian Ocean collapsed.

The main legacy of the Swahili Civilization is its language, Kiswahili, that maintained the purpose of uniting its speaker not only in medieval times but also in the contemporary world. Of course, there are other great contributions of the Swahili Civilization such as its cuisine, architecture and fashion that still hold deep roots at the East African Coast, but its language stands out internationally. Today Kiswahili is a lingua-franca of almost all East African nations. In Kenya and Tanzania, it is a national language and one of the leading official languages. Regional organizations such as the African Union (AU) and The East African Community (EAC) have also adopted Kiswahili and have some of their sessions conducted in Kiswahili. 

Globally, Kiswahili has earned recognition with the United Nation (UN) designating July 7 every year as International Kiswahili Language Day. Statistically speaking, Kiswahili has over 200 million speakers all over the world, that’s according to UNESCO. There have also been debates among Pan-Africans that Kiswahili should be adopted as an African language because of its command of the continent’s lingual aspect. African diaspora including African Americans have also began adopting and learning Kiswahili which has undoubtedly given it a Pan-African outlook. All this shows that efforts of Swahili people in preserving their history and cultures has also been supported by the international community. 

In addition to preserving Kiswahili as a language and the natives practicing its culture to date, international organizations such as the UN through UNESCO have marked notable Swahili Civilization ruins as World Heritage Sites which comes with many advantages such as sustainability and increase in tourism. Some of the sites that live to tell the story of the Swahili civilization today include Lamu Old Town in Kenya, Zanzibar Stone Town, Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara Town in Tanzania, also Ilha de Mozambique in Mozambique. 

Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani as a Swahili Civilization
Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania.

As discussed, Swahili people are made up of native Africans and the offspring resulting from the intermarriages between Africans and Asians. The previous account of Swahilis being projected as Asiatic is a colonial myth that sought to deny the role that black Africans played in the building of this great African Empire. Also, the Swahili Civilization as it was later known at its heydays existed way before the said interactions or the Indian Ocean Trade by East Africans forming agricultural and fishing-based communities along the coast. Those small communities were later colonized by Persian and Arabs. It was through the interactions and the growth of the Indian Ocean Trade that the communities later flourished into city-states. Although autonomous, the cities were unified by the Swahili culture. 

Altogether, Swahili culture was influenced by the Bantu with borrowed artistic, cultural and lingual aspects from the Persian, Arabs, Chinese and Indians. The civilization survived almost 9 centuries through trade and commerce before it collapsed starting in the 16th century. Its collapse was brought about by Portuguese invasion and the ultimate decline of the Indian Ocean Trade. From the collapse, it happened that some aspects were erased by time but the Swahili civilization still has great significance to the modern world specifically the current Swahili community. This influence is brought about by its rich culture as well ancient knowledge that was passed down through generations and which now commands the many East African communities. 

Among the 200 million Kiswahili Speakers today, the Swahili community in East Africa has grown to encompass larger areas of Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique, together with the adjacent islands of Comoros as well as some other parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi. The language and other aspects of the Civilization that have been preserved by history ultimately maintains the unique Eastern Africa’s social and cultural appearance.


Further External Readings:

(1) March 2023 study on the Swahili People

(2) Swahili Civilization: Its history and Culture

(3) Swahili Language and its advances

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