Pub. date: 2009 | Online Pub. Date: January 26, 2009 | DOI:
10.4135/9781412964623 | Print ISBN: 9781412936361 | Online ISBN:
9781412964623| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this
encyclopedia Bayyinab S. Jeffries The Swahili or Waswahili are a
community of people who were originally merchants and traders
along the coastal regions of East Africa in countries such as
Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Somalia. These historically
African people subscribed to a variety of traditional African
religions, values, customs, and beliefs. Scholars suggest that,
as the Swahili community evolved, they intermarried and
developed close relationships with a variety of other ethnic
groups, also traders and merchants, who were mainly Persians and
Arabs as well as members of other African communities. Because
this indigenous African community exchanged goods with Persians,
Arabs, and members of other ethnic groups, there was a
reciprocal sharing of culture. As in many ethnically diverse
communities, this cultural sharing pro