Table Of Contentp.i
THE SWAHILI WORLD
The Swahili World presents the fascinating story of a major world civilisation, exploring the
archaeology, history, linguistics and anthropology of the Indian Ocean coast of Africa. It
covers a 1,500-year sweep of history, from the first settlement of the coast to the complex
urban tradition found there today. Swahili towns contain monumental palaces, tombs and
mosques, set among more humble houses; they were home to fishers, farmers, traders and
specialists of many kinds. The towns have been Muslim since perhaps the eighth century
CE, participating in international networks connecting people around the Indian Ocean
rim and beyond. Successive colonial regimes have helped shape modern Swahili society,
which has incorporated such influences into the region’s long-standing cosmopolitan
tradition.
This is the first volume to explore the Swahili in chronological perspective. Each
chapter offers a unique wealth of detail on an aspect of the region’s past, written by the
leading scholars on the subject. The result is a book that allows both specialist and non-
specialist readers to explore the diversity of the Swahili tradition, how Swahili society has
changed over time, as well as how our understandings of the region have shifted since
Swahili studies first began.
Scholars of the African continent will find the most nuanced and detailed consideration
of Swahili culture, language and history ever produced. For readers unfamiliar with the
region or the people involved, the chapters here provide an ideal introduction to a new
and wonderful geography, at the interface of Africa and the Indian Ocean world, and
among a people whose culture remains one of Africa’s most distinctive achievements.
Stephanie Wynne-Jones is currently Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium
for Advanced Study, affiliated with Uppsala University. She has been Lecturer in
Archaeology at the University of York since 2011 and is a core group member of the
Centre for Network Evolutions at Aarhus University (DNRF119). She has conducted
archaeological research on the Swahili coast since 2000, in Kenya, Tanzania and on the
Zanzibar Archipelago.
Adria LaViolette is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at the
University of Virginia. Her interest in the Swahili coast began in 1987 while teaching at
the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Since then she has conducted archaeological
research on the Tanzanian mainland coast and on Pemba and Zanzibar islands. She has
been Editor-in-Chief of African Archaeological Review since 2009.
p.ii
THE ROUTLEDGE WORLDS
THE CRUSADER WORLD
Edited by Adrian Boas
THE BUDDHIST WORLD
Edited by John Powers
THE MODERNIST WORLD
Edited by Allana Lindgren and Stephen Ross
THE ATLANTIC WORLD
Edited by D’Maris Coffman, Adrian Leonard, and William O’Reilly
THE FIN-DE-SIÈCLE WORLD
Edited by Michael Saler
THE VICTORIAN WORLD
Edited by Martin Hewitt
THE GOTHIC WORLD
Edited by Glennis Byron and Dale Townshend
THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD
Edited by Susan Doran and Norman Jones
Forthcoming:
THE SHAKESPEAREAN WORLD
Edited by Jill L. Levenson and Robert Ormsby
THE WORLD OF INDIGENOUS NORTH AMERICA
Edited by Robert Warrior
THE WORLD OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Edited by Andrew Shankman
THE WORLD OF COLONIAL AMERICA
Edited by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz
THE SWAHILI WORLD
Edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD, 2ND EDITION
Edited by Philip F. Esler
p.iii
THE SWAHILI WORLD
Edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and
Adria LaViolette
p.iv
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of
the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-91346-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-69145-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK
p.v
CONTENTS
List of figures
List of tables
List of maps
Contributors
Maps
Preface
Note on terminology
1 The Swahili world
Adria LaViolette and Stephanie Wynne-Jones
PART I
Environment, background and Swahili historiography
Environment
2 The eastern African coastal landscape
Paul J. Lane and Colin P. Breen
3 Resources of the ocean fringe and the archaeology of the medieval Swahili
Edward Pollard
Studying the Swahili world
4 The East African coast: researching its history and archaeology
John Sutton
p.vi
5 Defining the Swahili
Daren Ray
6 Decoding the genetic ancestry of the Swahili
Ryan L. Raaum, Sloan R. Williams, Chapurukha Kusimba, Janet M. Monge, Alan Morris
and Mohamed Mchulla Mohamed
Contextualising the Swahili
7 Early connections
Nicole Boivin and Alison Crowther
8 The Swahili language and its early history
Martin Walsh
PART II
The Swahili age
Origins and early emporia
9 Swahili origins
Mark Horton and Felix Chami
10 Swahili oral traditions and chronicles
Anna Rita Coppola
11 Manda
Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Sloan R. Williams, Gilbert Oteyo, Janet M. Monge, Kong Cheong
and Mohamed Mchulla Mohamed
12 Tumbe, Kimimba and Bandarikuu
Jeffrey Fleisher
13 Unguja Ukuu
Abdurahman Juma
14 Chibuene
Anneli Ekblom and Paul Sinclair
Swahili urbanism
15 Urbanism
Paul Sinclair
p.vii
16 Town and village
Jeffrey Fleisher
17 Mambrui and Malindi
Dashu Qin and Yu Ding
18 Shanga
Mark Horton
19 Gede
Matthew Pawlowicz
20 Mtwapa
Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Sloan R. Williams, Janet M. Monge, Mohamed Mchulla Mohamed,
Rahul Oka, Gilbert Oteyo, Sibel B. Kusimba and Laure Dussubieux
21 Pemba Island, c. 1000–1500 CE
Adria LaViolette
22 Zanzibar
Tom Fitton
23 The history and archaeology of the Mafia Archipelago
Annalisa Christie
24 Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
25 Mikindani and the southern coast
Matthew Pawlowicz
26 The Comoros and their early history
Henry T. Wright
