Swahili Coast

The East Coast of Africa had long been connected to trade routes, but the amount of trade increased rapidly after 1200 CE.  Several factors contributed to the explosive growth in trade.

Several powerful government established themselves around the same time, and their presence encouraged trade.  The Mongols, Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Delhi Sultanate, and Malacca Sultanate all encouraged trade.  For example, the Song Dynasty mass produced products like porcelain and silk to trade.  The Mongols encouraged trade on the Silk Roads.  This did draw some traders away from trading in the Indian Ocean.  However, traders often took goods from the Silk Roads to the Indian Ocean and vice versa.  

Empires also indirectly encouraged more trade.  As empires grew, their residents became more wealthy.  This created more demand for luxury products that merchants could bring into ports.  Wealthy and powerful governments also created safety and stability.  Warfare often disrupts trade, and it is expensive.  Cities and infrastructure are often damaged or destroyed during war.  These factors cause less demand for goods because money must be spent expanding the military or fixing infrastructure.  Furthermore, stable governments can enforce law and order.  This meant sailors had fewer issues with bandits and pirates.  All these factors meant that voyages were less dangerous and risky.  This encouraged merchants to make more trips and trade more goods.

Islam also played an important role in encouraging trade.  Many people converted to Islam in East Africa.  Many of these conversions were sincere, but Islam also provided many business perks.  By converting, people in East Africa could gain a number of advantages.

First, Muslims taxed other Muslims at lower rates than non-Muslims.  For traders, this meant that they could keep more of their profits.  Rulers might convert to attract Muslim traders, who could depend on paying less than they might in the ports of non-Muslim cities.  Traders and merchants might convert to avoid paying taxes.

Islam also provided a common set of beliefs, laws, and often language.  This shared understanding built trust between buyers and sellers.  For example, Islamic law had specific guidance for making contracts and resolving disputes.  Resolving disputes between different cultures could be more complex.  Traders might work with dozens of a different ethnic groups, or sail into the ports of several different countries.  Each time they might need to learn new rules, and those rules could cost them.  The clear guidance in Islamic law eliminated uncertainty, so that buyers and sellers knew what to expect from each other.  This helped reduce risk, and encouraged trade to expand.

Traders developed new technology to help them navigate the seas.  These inventions include the magnetic compass and astrolabe.  Improved navigation made it safer and easier to take long voyages across the ocean.  In other words, technology helped increase trade by making it more likely that a voyage would be profitable.​

Sailing across the Indian Ocean was dangerous.  There were no landmarks, so there was nothing to warn sailors if they were going in the wrong direction.  Winds and storms could blow a ship off course.  Pirates could take advantage of a lost ship.  Even if they didn't, the crew would need to sail back to their original routes.  If they didn't, everyone on board would die.  Slowly.

It makes sense that new technology would focus on the issue of navigation.  Eliminating the danger of being lost reduced the risk of travel.  This incentivized travelers to trade more often.

Astrolabes helped travelers navigate.  An astrolabe included a map of the stars.  Sailors could use these stars to help determine the directions.  Astrolabes also had functions that allowed sailors to calculate their current location.  With these two pieces of information, sailors could adjust their direction.

Magnetic compasses also helped sailors determine which directions were North and South.  A compass has a pointer that can swing around.  Because the pointer is magnetized, it lines up with the earth's magnetic field.  This means that one side of the compass will always point north and one side of the compass will point south.  This invention was particularly useful because it instantly adjusted.​

Zheng He's voyages are one of the most famous examples of cultural and technological exchange.  Zheng He visited the Swahili Coast three times.  His voyages were diplomatic.  This meant that Zheng He and his crew visited with locals, learned about each other, and exchanged goods.  People from two separate cultures met each other for the first time, and both cultures changed as a result.

Zheng He's voyages are famous, but less famous voyages helped spread new ideas, cultural practices, and technology throughout the Indian Ocean.  In addition, East African traders also visited other countries and brought back new ideas.  As this process happened over and over again, East African culture changed.

The cultures of the Middle East, specifically Arab and Persian culture, also had a significant impact on East African culture.  This is because these groups established diasporic communities in East Africa and frequently visited the region.  The more contact there is between groups, the more changes there are for cultural ideas and technology to move to new places.  Notably, the language and religion that dominated East Africa changed as a result of the close contact between East Africa and the Middle East.​​

Diasporic and indigenous communities helped create a distinct Swahili culture on Africa's East Coast.  One aspect of this culture is the Swahili language.  This language is made up of a mixture of Arabic and Bantu words.  The Arabic words were introduced by traders and diasporic Arabs.  Bantu words were used by indigenous groups.  Both groups began using words from outside their language to communicate more effectively.  In doing so, they created a new language.

Islam is another place where we can see the mutual influence of both cultures.  Arab traders and diasporic communities brought Islam to the region.  Many indigenous people converted to Islam.  However, they continued to practice many aspects of their traditional religions.  Many East African Muslims continued to worship their ancestors and spirits.  This practice was uncommon in the Middle East.  These practices show how elements of both religious practices combined to create a new cultural practice.​

The famous world traveler Ibn Battuta visited the Swahili Coast.  He wrote about his travels in a book called The Rihla.  You can see a copy of The Rihla at this link.  Muslims in the medieval period encouraged each other to travel.  Many Muslim travelers wrote accounts of their travels, and these accounts were popular.  People read them for entertainment, but also to learn.  Travel memoirs helped people plan pilgrimages and learn about the world.

I help ambitious students improve their skills and master the AP World History exam.  Learn more here!

You may also like:

All blog posts are licensed using a CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.  You are free to copy or share this information in any form.  You may also adapt and build upon this material for commercial and noncommercial.  If you chose to share, adapt, or use this information, you must give credit to Spring Learning Services, LLC and indicate if changes were made.  All material must be shared using the same terms

This material is based on my interpretation of the AP World History Course and Exam Description and my experience working in education for the past decade.  The views expressed on this page are my own.  AP® and Advanced Placement® are trademarks registered and owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this site.