How did Swahili language evolve?
The Swahili language developed when the Bantu language and Arabic collided. This all began when the Bantu speaking people migrated across central Africa to the east coast. They settled at seaports where all the trade happened. As trade increased, many Muslim Arab and Persian traders settled at these seaports.
When did Swahili language originate?
Around 3,000 years ago, speakers of the proto-Bantu language group began a millennia-long series of migrations; the Swahili people originate from Bantu inhabitants of the coast of Southeast Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. They are mainly united under the mother tongue of Kiswahili, a Bantu language.
What is Swahili language a mix of?
Someone who speaks Arabic may find it easier to learn Swahili because Swahili is a combination of words from Arabic and the Bantu-speaking communities of East Africa.
What does Swahili mean in history?
1 : a member of a Bantu-speaking people of Zanzibar and the adjacent coast. 2 : a Bantu language that is a trade and governmental language over much of East Africa and in the Congo region.
What sentence best describes the Swahili language?
What sentence best describes the Swahili language? It is the first language of many people in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the best-known of the surviving Bantu languages.
Why is Swahili language important?
It is a language of influence politically, economically and socially, and a knowledge of it can deepen business relationships. 4. Swahili plays an important part in education in several African countries. Uganda made Swahili a required subject in primary schools in 1992.
What was the Swahili civilization?
Iron Age people traded with inland Africa, East and Southern Asia, and Europe, producing what has become popularly known as the “Swahili civilization.” This civilization along the coast of Eastern Africa is marked by material culture of iron working, cloth production, pottery, beads, and glass as well as monumental …
How widely spoken is Swahili?
Estimates of the total number of Swahili speakers vary widely, from 60 million to over 150 million. Swahili serves as a national language of four nations: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What is Swahili civilization?
How Swahili came about?
The language dates from the contacts of Arabian traders with the inhabitants of the east coast of Africa over many centuries. Under Arab influence, Swahili originated as a lingua franca used by several closely related Bantu-speaking tribal groups. Standard Swahili is based on the kiUnguja dialect.
What do the Swahili believe in?
The Swahili people follow the Sunni denomination of Islam. Large numbers of Swahili undertake the Hajj and Umrah from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique. Traditional Islamic dress such as the jilbab and thob are also popular among the Swahili.
Where does the Swahili language come from?
Areas where Swahili is spoken. The Swahili language is a language widely spoken in East Africa. In the Swahili language its name is Kiswahili. It is a Bantu language. The Swahili language is spoken in a wide area from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and all of Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi.
Which countries speak Swahili?
Kenya
What languages are spoken in Swahili?
Swahili or Kiswahili, as known by its native speakers, is a Bantu language spoken by over 100 million people in Africa. It is a rich mix of languages with roots in Arabic and Bantu. Swahili is influenced by English, French, Persian, Portuguese, and German because of commercial interactions with countries that speak these languages.
What is the ethnic group of Swahili?
The Swahili people (or Waswahili) are an ethnic and cultural group inhabiting East Africa. Members primarily reside on the Swahili coast , in an area encompassing the Zanzibar archipelago , littoral Kenya, the Tanzania seaboard, and northern Mozambique.