I thought Islam was spread to Swahili’s by Arab’s and Persians ?Some notable groups that come to mind are Oromos, Swahilis, Jabarti Habeshis, Bantus… Somalis spread and protected Islam & Muslims all across Eastern Africa, major players in the region.
I thought Islam was spread to Swahili’s by Arab’s and Persians ?
The Shungwayah is just Somalis from Burgabo migrating down
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And when the migrated down and started building walled stone settlements and absorbed the bantus that they came in contact with in the process.
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There was 2 waves of Migrations, first one is between 9th and 10th century and the second one is between 16th and 17th century.
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This is also shown in Linguisitics. ND is Northern Swahili.
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These links also existed not just with the coast of Southern Somalia but also with the Southern interior. There was political and cultural links between Sultans of Geledi and Bardheera Jama with the northern Swahili coast particularly with Witu and Lamu.
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The city State of Siyu, for example was revived from the 1700s by a new stream of Somali Shayukhs who joint ruled it and intitiated it into a center for learning and book production
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The influence in book production can be seen in the Somali leathermaking for book binding and woodcarving, motifs etc
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Interesting I knew of Somali presence in the Swahili coast but I thought it was mainly tradingFor some swahili tribes were converted by Arabs and but for other Swahilis it was Southern Somalis spreading Islam and even culture throughout the middle ages downwards towards the Swahili coast , and the early modern period.
In the middle ages it was mostly Somalis just migrating down:
In the early modern period it Somali Sheikhs credited with Islamic revival in Lamu, Siyu and Pate:
Interesting why do you think is Islam less widespread in east Africa then in west Africa which has multiple Islamic majority nations
Some swahili tribes were converted by Arabs and but for other Swahilis it was Southern Somalis spreading Islam and even culture throughout the middle ages downwards towards the Swahili coast , and the early modern period.
In the middle ages it was mostly Somalis just migrating down:
In the early modern period Somali Sheikhs are credited with the Islamic revival in Lamu, Siyu and Pate:
Thank youMost of the spread of Islam in West Africa actually happened in the 19th and 20th century through Jihads. So many are comparatively very recent Muslims. We kinda discussed in another thread:Fulani jihads that happened in the 1700s and 1800s.
I would say geography limited both areas compared to Somalia and North Africa.
Unlike the Somali coast, the swahili coast operated like Muslim enclaves separated from the interior which continued to be inhabited by pagans. In large part because of their geographical landscape in that part of East Africa.
With Ethiopia there is also an added element of Christian anti-muslim antagonism that either erased or suppressed or limited the spread of it. Islam continued to spread in all directions by Somalis and would have fully done so but it halted we know the rest of the story.