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History
Persian and Arab traders established business contacts with east Africans over 1,000 years ago. These relations, coupled with refugees who fled the turmoil in Arabia after the death of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, resulted in a significant number of Arab immigrants residing on the coast of east Africa. The mixing of the coastal Bantu-speaking African peoples with these Arab immigrants led to the emergence of the Swahili people and language. The Swahili people lived and worked for the next seven centuries with the indigenous African population. During this time, the Swahili people expanded their trade and communication further inland and to the south with other African groups, including ancestral tribes of the Somali Bantu.
Persian and Arab traders established business contacts with east Africans over 1,000 years ago. These relations, coupled with refugees who fled the turmoil in Arabia after the death of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, resulted in a significant number of Arab immigrants residing on the coast of east Africa. The mixing of the coastal Bantu-speaking African peoples with these Arab immigrants led to the emergence of the Swahili people and language. The Swahili people lived and worked for the next seven centuries with the indigenous African population. During this time, the Swahili people expanded their trade and communication further inland and to the south with other African groups, including ancestral tribes of the Somali Bantu.