Culture swahilie

The culture swahili is the culture shared by the people of the coast of the East Africa. The term would come from the plural of the Arab word the Sahel ساحل: sawahil سواحل which means coast or border. These people have various origins but show the same characteristics, a population of African origin bantoue with Arab contributions and Persan of Chiraz. The city-States coastal like Mombasa, Gede, Malindi or the archipelagoes of Zanzibar, the the Comoros, Kilwa, or of Lamou formed a unit of culture swahilie prosperous and famous, alive of the trade of African goods intended for the Eastern markets. These people thus spoke a close language, and shared a certain number of eigenvalues. It is before a a whole urban, African culture and Moslem. Arabic called Al-Zanj (blacks) the geographical area of the territorial fields under the domination of these cities.

History

An assumption makes culture swahilie an old culture. the Tour of the sea Érythrée , a document of the 2nd century specifies that the merchants who visited at the same time the East Africa and the south-east of the spoken Arabic peninsula the same language and contracted marriages there. The Géographie of Claude Ptolémée, written towards 150, taken again and corrected in its final form at the 4th century also gives many information. At that time, the islands were important gold providers. The trade was prosperous during several centuries in this zone, and this culture, at the same time as the Islam developed and diffused along trade route.

City-States commercial are based by the Arab migrants in the archipelagoes of Lamu, of Zanzibar, then later of the the Comoros and Kilwa, thus on the continental cities of Malindi, Mombasa until Sofala. The Shirazis settle with Kilwa which become the center of the most flourishing trade of the area with 11th and especially at the 14th century, partly thanks to the ivory trade of elephant S and Hippopotame S, horns of Rhinocéros, copper, scales of tortoise, pearls and mainly thanks to gold coming from the mines of Sofala, in current the Mozambique, and bound for Europe, of the Islamic world and even of China. The trade towards Far East also intensifies to reach its greater expansion under Ming. In 1414, an embassy of the town of Malindi brings with it to the court of China a Girafe. In 1417-1419 and 1431-1433, the Moslem Chinese admiral Zheng He, leads two great forwardings on the African coast and arrives in Malindi. These cities also traded the ebony, sandalwood the slaves. Kilwa is at that time described as being one of the cities most elegantly built world. The inhabitants of the coast are described as being well nourished rich and exotic mets, sumptuously equipped. Commercial caravans penetrate more and more deeply the earths to the big lakes to recover the invaluable goods which are reforwarded towards the Middle East. This culture thus spread Somalia to the coasts of Madagascar and the Mozambique.

But these cities are made competition and quarrel, change alliance regularly. They do not oppose an united front when the Portuguese Vasco de Gama arrives on the coast in March 1498 with three caravels. The reception of the population is reserved vis-a-vis these potential competitors and Christians who arrive by new trade route. From Mombasa, the Portuguese escape from little from a ambush. The sultan of Malindi, rival of that of Mombasa, accommodates them cordially on the other hand and provides them a pilot who will indicate the sea routes of the area to them. Vis-a-vis this new competitor, the political importance and the richness of these cities decrease. They end up losing their independence vis-a-vis the Portuguese who use the firearms and must pay a tribute. Zanzibar is taken in 1503 and is subjected to tribute by Ruy Lourenço Ravasco; between 1505 and 1507, the economic activities sink with the destruction of Kilwa and the fall of Mombasa and Baraawa, continuations with stiff of the troops of Francisco de Almeida destroying some of the most beautiful florets of architecture swahili. Seule Mogadiscio in the north of the coast escapes the Portuguese. The Portuguese domination is not without clashes, of the coercive measures oblige a sultan of Grande Comore to flee with Mayotte. In 1528, Mombasa, revolted, is again put at bag. In parallel, in 1587, the massacre of the Portuguese of the island of Pemba was the first alarm for the European occupants. Later Portuguese persons in charge who refuse to convert with Islam are carried out in 1631 with Mombasa conquered in 1599 only. The Portuguese do not hesitate to use the people of the interior the such Zimba, famous cannibal, to demolish Turkish/Arab and to subject Lamou by guillotinant its sultan.

In 1698, the Imam of Mascate in Oman, Sayyid Said bin Sultan Al-Busaid, encourages Arabic to revolt, assembles an army of 3000 men, and manages to take again Mombasa with the Portuguese, then Kilwa and Pemba the following year. The Portuguese try various counter-offensives, even briefly take again Mombasa, but are definitively expelled of the coast swahilie in 1729, and take refuge more in the south in Mozambique. The sultan, is Master of the zanj, the dimension of the continent and the islands, and made fortune by massively using the slaves in large plantations of cloves at the instigation of the British. He also makes cultivated in an intensive way the oranges, coconuts… The capital of the sultanate, from the surge of the richnesses, is transferred from Oman to Zanzibar, which does not go without posing problems with Omani which consider these African with contempt. During this time, the French surgeon Morice becomes the friend of the sultan of Kilwa and obtains grounds and the exclusiveness on the draft in the slaves.

On the continent, Swahili tradesmen open trade route to reach central Africa (creation of the counter of Ujiji at the edge of the lake Tanganyika about 1830). The money commercial of the ivory bound for Europe makes it possible to buy rifles; adventurers create autonomous commercial principalities (Msiri, Tippo Tip), also devoting themselves to the draft to provide slaves to Zanzibar.

In 1840, a tacit agreement between division the area between the great power. The the United Kingdom established a Protectorate on Zanzibar, the Germany the Tanganyika and the coast Kenya, left continental the Tanzania, the France becomes Master of Mayotte in 1841 then remainder of the Comoros, portuguais them preserve the Mozambique. The United Kingdom controls finally all the trade of the area, bench its sovereignty on Kenya with the detriment of Germany in 1890 and ends up imposing the abandonment of slavery. The sultan Hamoud bin Mohammed the interdict in 1897. Only the cities of the Somalia remain independent, fighting against the Ethiopia.

However, the culture and especially certain dialects of the languages swahilies continued with répendre on the continent, so that the zone of use of the languages swahilies recovers a much greater zone than that of the culture swahili itself.

to also see: History of Tanzania of which History of Zanzibar, History of Kenya, History of Mozambique, History of Somalia and History of the Comoros.

Zanj

The Eastern coast profits from winds of monsoon which blow from April at August in a direction, then change orientation from December to Mars. This cyclic system made it possible the Arab and Indian boats to approach the African coasts easily then to set out again towards their point of origin also easily. The Zenj (Arab and Persan زنج) is territorial surface or extends control from the state-city swahili. The sea of zeng indicated the Indian Ocean west including in particular the Mascareignes.

The Arab geographers divided the east coast African into four areas, by order of distance:

country of the barbarians or Bilâd Al-Barbar
country of Zanj or Bilâd Al-Zandj, located between the Somali river Shebele and the island of Zanzibar, zone of the culture swahilie. Mogadiscio, in Somalia, forms the northern limit of the cultural surface swahili and its southern limit corresponds to bay of Sofala of current Mozambique.
country of Sofala, Bilâd Al-Sufâla, zone ranging between the mouths of the Zambezi and Limpopo, also called the gold of Sofala or Sufâla Al-dhahab
mysterious country of Wâk-wâk, which is perhaps the large island of Madagascar.

The terme" Zanj" was also used by the sultans of Zanzibar specifically to indicate the band of ground of a few kilometers which it could control inside the continent.

Principal the archipelagoes, islands and cities of the cultural surface swahilie are:

the archipelago of Zanzibar (Unguja, Pemba, Maffia)
the archipelago of Lamu (island of Lamu, the island of Manda, the island of Paste, the island of Kiwayu, the island of Manda Louse)
the archipelago of the the Comoros (Large Comore, Mohéli, Anjouan, Mayotte)
the zone of Kilwa (Kilwa Kisiwani, Kilwa Kivinje, Songo Mnara)
the state city of Mombasa
the state city of Malindi and Gede
the state city of Mogadisho and Kismaayo

(has to check Kua, Mahilaka, Ungwana and Shang).

Relation with the other people

The relations with Arabic were difficult. Arabic indeed regarded the swahilis as lower of the people black, behind the Abyssinian and the Nubiens. Consequently, it is consequently easily to include/understand the reaction of Omani to the displacement of their capital towards Zanzibar. The swahilis on their side considered lower African nonMoslem, but also the Westerners. Indeed, the roughness with the profit of the officers, the dirtiness of the sailors and their behaviors generally hardly did not plead in their favor.

Slavery

Inscriptions java be born and of the Arab texts the extension of this trade to IXe and Xe centuries show. The inscription of Kancana in particular, found in the east of Java (Indonesia) and gone back to 860 a. J. - C., mentions, in a list of dependant people, the word jenggi , i.e. " zenj". An Arab work, the Wonders of India , brings back the testimony of a merchant of the name of Ibn Lakis which in 945, sees arriving on the coast of Sofala " thousands of embarkations" gone up by Waq-waq which come from islands " located opposite Chine" to seek products and slaves zenj . The geographer Ibn Battûta (14th century) reports that the sultan Kilwa was going to seek slaves at Zenjs, word which had become synonymous d'" men noirs".

Structure of the company

As many companies bantoues the individual is nothing vis-a-vis the group. Belongs to the group is the base of the company and all put at the variation is most severe of the punishments. Thus the membership is defined initially by the place of origin then by the membership in companies of the initiatory type. These bonds form a squaring which definite an individual.

Social classes

There exist social classes peerage-books. The descendants of servants remain customers of the family of the Masters of their parents. It is very difficult to leave this yoke for an individual.

Company of the initiatory type

As typically in the companies bantoues, there exists an organization of the population in age groups and various merits or ritual accomplished. This organization allows a certain mixing social which is used at the same time of elevator social and loopholes (an Co-initiate, even noble to be brocardé little there for example).

The place of the woman

The company, although Moslem woman, guard a character matrilinéaire extremely.

Art and literature

Craft industry

It is it should be noted that in agreement with their Moslem heritage, the swahilis do not use an image in the decorations but prefer to use geometrical reasons. The remarkable traditional pieces of furniture are the canopied fourposter beds, the pieces of furniture of corner. Remarkable the large doors carved out of wood are typical.

Each island has certain specialities, thus Zanzibar preserves the tradition of the construction of Coffre out of wood. The industry of tourism preserve a certain form of art and to know to make which differently would have disappeared because of impoverishment and from the occidentalization of the area.

Music

The Twarab is a form of song and a music original very appraisal. The melodies are rythmées and still today are traditionally played during the marriages and the assemblies. The meetings of twarab can be mixed. To the Arab traditional instruments are added today African and Western instruments.

Cook

The kitchen swahili is strongly influenced by the kitchen Indian but so Arab and of course African. It is thus a spiced kitchen. The most famous dishes are the Biriani S, Pilau S, Mkaté (cake of flour). The Banane plantain is also consumed as well as the Manioc. Traditionally the swahilis are Moslem, consequently they do not eat a pig.

Structure

The cities form Médina S and form a unit visible on all the coasts of Somalia in the north of Madagascar. The style is primarily of inspiration Arab with local African modifications. One finds there the arches, short outsides, the districts for the women, the Mihrab, the turns, the decorative pieces of Arab style. The old city of Mji Mkongwe in Zanzibar is versed with the world heritage of UNESCO.

Literature

There exists several Chronique S whose authors are not known and the date of dubious drafting. The Chronic of Paste and the Chronique of Kilwa are the most known documents. They were written in dialect Swahili in Arab characters.

The known literature is late and is composed of Romance S ( Riwaya ), of drama S ( tamthilia ), of Poème S ( shairi ) and of epopee S ( Utenzi ). The first known works are the Utenzi wa Tambuka (towards 1728) and the Utenzi wa Shufaka. There exists a revival of the literature in Kiswahili, which however is not strictly speaking of culture swahilie, but which inherits it.

Custom and habits

The religion and belief

This company, arabized before even the emergence of Islam was Islamized early. However, the Islam of the swahilis kept certain elements and African superstitions. As in West Africa, the practices traditional put up with amulets containing of the verses of Coran, to make use of Coran for the divination or to practice medicine by using verses of Coran. Only the monks can use these rites.

The hour

One of the aspects of most anecdotic but marking more the traveller is the management of time. On the one hand the notation of the hours is different and on the other hand perception from this time, as in the remainder of Africa is different. The day is divided into two periods, the period of day and the period of night. At 6 a.m., hour of the lifting of the sun, corresponds the first hour of the morning, to 6 p.m., hour to lay down sun corresponds the first hour of the night. Thus 3 hours of the day to 9 hours of the international Système corresponds

Each city and village have its Medersa and its Mosquée.

Funerary habits

The funerary habits are also close. The tombs with pillars, do not meet nowhere elsewhere in the Muslim world and are a purely local invention starting from perhaps pre-Islamic architectural forms. It does not exist in the Comoros.

The Heritage

It is thought that architecture swahili inspired the manufacturers of the Grand Zimbabwe. This culture is still long-lived in the islands of the Tanzanian and Kenyan coasts like to the the Comoros, and changes according to the influances old colonizing powers (the United Kingdom, France, Portugal).

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