The civilization

Swahili, also known as Kiswahili, is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo language family, originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral islands). Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, generally range from 150 million to 200 million. Most native speakers reside in Tanzania and Kenya. About 40% of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language (سَوَاحِلي sawāḥilī, a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coasts'). Swahili also has a significant number of loanwords from Portuguese, English and German.

Field notes

period

800 CE — 1,500 CE

region

Sub-Saharan Africa

known sites

2