Swahili culture is the culture of the Swahili people living on the east coast of Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique as well as on the islands in the area, from Zanzibar to Comoros, who speak Swahili as their native language.
Swahili culture is the product of the complex history of East Africa, that has been influenced by Middle Eastern, Arab, European and Asian cultures. As with the Swahili language, swahili culture has a Bantu core that has been modified by those foreign influences.
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Swahili culture and language began to take form around the 10th century, as a consequence of the highly successful Persians and even greater Arabs creating trading settlements on the East African coast and islands and mixing with the local Bantu people. The period from the 10th to the 15th century in East Africa is often referred to as the "Shirazi Era" as many trading settlements were created by Shirazi Persians. The culture that formed from the interaction between Arabic , Persian and Bantu traditions and habits was further enriched with influences from the Far East as a consequence of long-distance trading routes crossing the Indian Ocean. Beginning in Kenya and Tanzania, the swahili culture eventually spread to Mozambique.[1]
During the Shirazi Era, several city-states flourished along the African coast and on the islands; some examples are Kilwa, Malindi, Gedi, Pate, Comoros, and Zanzibar. These early Swahili city-states were Muslim, cosmopolitan, and politically independent of each other.[2] They all competed against one another for the best of the African trade business. The chief exports of these cultures were ebony, gold, ivory, and sandalwood. These city-states began to decline towards the sixteenth century, mainly as a consequence of the Portugueses' advent. Eventually, Swahili trading centers went out of business and commerce between Africa and Asia on the Indian Ocean collapsed.[3]
Aspects of Swahili culture are diverse due to its many origins when it first developed. For example, Swahili cuisine has influences from Indian, Arabic, and European cultures. There are also alterations to certain dishes due to religious reasons. For instance pork is seldom used in food because most of the Swahili are Muslim.[4] Some food items common in everyday lives of the Swahili are fish, tropical fruits, and exotic spices.
Another cultural aspect of the Swahili language is their use of arts and crafts, which the Swahili find significance in. When creating art they express themselves through creativity as well as shape and function. Some multicultural influences can be seen in Swahili art, furniture, and architecture.[4] They do not often use designs with images of living beings due to their Muslim heritage. Instead, Swahili designs are primarily geometric. There are important clothes that are part of their arts and crafts such as the Kanga. The Kanga is not only a rectangular piece of cloth but is an artifact of the Swahili culture. The cloth should be made with extreme care. If the cloth doesn’t match the season then it doesn’t deserve to be a Kanga and can be used as a baby diaper or an apron for the kitchen. Even though the Kanga is quite cheap, it is still a main part of Swahili culture. The Kanga is made in Tanzania and is mostly appealing to woman rather than men but men are not restricted to using it. The cloth is used as a sling to carry babies, melons on their heads and can also be used as a kitchen apron.
The most typical musical genre of Swahili culture is taarab (or tarabu), sung in swahili language with melodies and orchestration are of Arab and Indian influence (although Western instruments, such as guitars, are sometimes used).[4][5]
In the 20th century several musical genres have emerged in the Swahili world, that are derivatives of Western popular music. One major example is muziki wa dansi, which is the Tanzanian counterpart of Congolese soukous (rumba). In the last decades of the century most Swahili music has been in the afropop vein; this includes several local derivatives of American hip hop, e.g., bongo flava.