The Origin Of Kiswahili

Swahili, a word that is known by all, but the meaning and background is foreign. The east African coast is where it originates. With the Indian Ocean as the way of trading, once small villages, began to grow into civilizations that included Arabs. At first, the past of theses trading towns were believed to have started with the Arabs. Later, evidence credits the Arabs for further development, but the true origins come from the indigenous Africans.

During the time before 500 CE, the region was known as “Azania.” This reference can be found in a Greek handbook, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The book was used as a guide to find trading ports in the Indian Ocean. It talks about trading towns along the Azanian coast. Traders from Egypt and

The origin of the name ‘Swahili’ came from the Arabic word sahil or coast. To sum up the meaning of ‘Swahili,’ it literally means ‘the people the coast.’ Modern Kiswalili is of Bantu with a few Arabic words. These words came from the Arabs that moved into the area and settled with the locals. With the Arabs help of writing, Kiswahili became a written language. After some time, ‘Swahili’ was known as Islamic in religion, but African when pertaining to language and the peoples. As more muslim immigrated to the east coast, their influence increased. They married into the ruling families and as a result, mosques were built. Further north, rectangular houses were being built and it is assumed that trade was growing with Egypt and the Mediterranean.

The island of Kilwa, under then ruling of the Shirazi, found a way to control the gold trade. Mogadishu were in control, using Muslim contacts, they arranged for gold dust to be transport from the ‘Land of Sofala,’ to northern markets. Merchants of Kilwa sent ships to Sofala and setup settlements. Buying directly from the interior Africans, Kilwa took over the southern gold trade from Mogadishu by 1200