When did the Swahili city-states start?

8th century
The earliest Swahili towns emerged in the 8th century and, with increasing trade and wealth, developed into prosperous and complex city-states in the 15th century before they were displaced by the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries, Omani in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Europeans in the 20th century.

When did the Swahili city-states start and end?

From 1000 to 1500 CE, Swahili city-states were wealthy urban areas connected both to the African interior and the larger Indian Ocean World.

How did the Swahili city-states develop?

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.

What are the cities that made up the Swahili city-states?

It includes Sofala (Mozambique), Mombasa, Gede, Pate Island, Lamu, Malindi, and Kilwa. In addition, several coastal islands are included in the Swahili coast such as Zanzibar and Comoros.

What is a Swahili city state?

Swahili City States were trading states along the east coast of Africa, from Kenya to Mozambique. The Swahili City States provided and connected african raw material to the rest of the Indian Ocean world–Arabia, India, Persia, China and vice-versa.

What are the three major Swahili city states?

Swahili is the name of their language and means ‘people of the coast. ‘ The coast blossomed into a number of important, independent trading cities which included Mombasa, Mogadishu, and Zanzibar.

How did the Swahili city states end?

Interactions with the Portuguese and a consequent decrease in trade led to the decline of the Swahili Coast city-states, although some did carry on for another few centuries, some under the rule of the Omani Empire. Today, Swahili is the lingua franca of East Africa.

What made the Swahili city-states powerful?

These city-states truly achieved international trade dominance around 1350 CE, after they had all converted to Islam. Muslim merchants controlled the world’s most extensive inland and maritime trade routes, and the Swahili city-states had attracted a large number of Persian merchants looking to expand.

Why was the Swahili civilization important?

To sum up, Swahili Civilization was an important contributor and receiver of goods, people, and ideas from the 11th- to the 16th-centuries. The merchants in the Indian Ocean Trading Network helped coastal cities to grow prosperous and politically powerful.

What are the Swahili city states known for?

From roughly 1000-1500 CE, the extensive maritime trade that connected China to the Red Sea was dominated by the Swahili city-states, trading cities along Africa’s east coast. These trading cities operated as their own governments and traded in practically every product that could be found between Africa and Asia.

What were the Swahili city states what were they referred to as in Arabic quizlet?

What were the Swahili City States? What were they referred to as in Arabic? The Indian Ocean trade also created thriving city-states along the east coast of Africa, sometimes known as the Swahili city-states, and the Zanj Coast in Arabic.

What did the Swahili city-states do?

During that time, the Swahili Coast comprised numerous city-states that traded across the Indian Ocean. The city-states were independent sultanates, although they shared a common language (Swahili) and religion (Islam). They traded across the Indian Ocean for items, such as pottery, silks, and glassware.

How long did the Swahili city-states last?

For roughly 500 years, the Swahili city-states were amongst the most economically powerful in the world. In this lesson, we’ll explore the history and legacy of these urban trade centers. What is a state?

What are some examples of Swahili city-states?

Let’s look a little more closely at some specific city-states. Let’s start with Kilwa, a trading city on an island off the coast of modern-day Tanzania. Thanks to its ease of access, Kilwa had the largest port of any Swahili trade city, but being on an island also had a smaller population, around 4,000 people.

How did the Swahili culture develop over time?

As trade increased, the villages became wealthier and larger, dominated by an elite class of merchants as the Swahili language and cultural identified was solidified. Gradually, complex city-states emerged with complex political structures, immense wealth, and trade networks reaching from the Mediterranean all the way to China.

How did the conversion to Islam affect the Swahili city-states?

The conversion to Islam linked the Swahili city-states to massive trade networks that crossed Eurasia. The Swahili city-states were largely controlled by the elite merchants, although official power was in the hands of a sultan.