Trade Was Central to the Growth and Development of the Swahili Civilisation

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TRADE WAS CENTRAL TO THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SWAHILI CIVILISATION BY ONI MUHAMMAD UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 100L MATRIC NO: 169544 BEING THE PAPER PRESENTED AT THE SESSION OF THE EXAMINATION OF HIS 101: AFRICAN CIVILISATION UP TO 1500 ON LECTURER DR. V.O. EDO INTRODUCTION The Swahili civilisation lay on the east African coast from Mogadishu in the North towards Sofala (today Beira) and Inhambane in the South. The first source of early information about East Africa was the Greek sailor’s guild called “The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea” meaning “The Voyage of the Indian Ocean” written between AD 40 and AD 70. Periplus refers to series of market towns in the areas where traders could obtain ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell and coconut shell. The East African people were known to the Greek and Roman traders as Azania. They were mainly farmers, fishermen and gatherers of sea foods, as well as traders. By the first century AD, a few Arabs had been living among the Azanians. They inter-married the local people, mixed freely with them and adopted their language .There influence was very significant and this gave birth to the Swahili civilisation. As the question implies, the Swahili civilisation was as a result of the trade contact between the Arab merchant and the East African local people. The Swahili civilisation was a fascinating and complex system _a group of advanced cultures with large economic networks, international maritime trade, and urban sophistication. When Baghdad in Persian Gulf became an Islamic capital, Muslim Arabs became drawn more than hitherto to the Indian Ocean network and it also facilitated the trade contact between the Arabs and the people of the eastern coast. The Arab merchant came with goods between November and March and return with
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