A SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE

SWAHILI PEOPLE AND THEIR LANGUAGE:

A CRITICAL REVIEW:

By: Yussuf Hamad, the State University of Zanzibar – Tanzania.

Introduction

The history of Swahili language and its speakers has long been controversial with number of

competing views on what is the true origin of Swahili and Swahili speakers. Some scholars

hold that Swahili language originates from Arabic language; thus, Swahilis are therefore

believed to be descendants of Arabs and Muslims who speak Swahili. This view has a slight

support however, as it only focuses on the amount of Arabic vocabulary in Swahili language.

More influential is the view that Swahili is Bantu language as explained by a number of

scholars (Massamba, 2002; Chiraghdin and Mnyapala; 1977; Wald, 1987; Whiteley, 1969;

Nurse and Hinnebusch, 1993).

The view that Swahili is a Pidgin or Creole is mainly pegged on evidence that Arabs and

Africans formed a new community from which emerged a new form of language: Swahili.

Yet, this view appears spurious as it lacks a living evidence of the first form or a written

sample of the Swahili pidgin or Creole.

The question of who are Swahilis has also been broadly discussed. Commonly, scholars

define Swahilis according to their ethnic groups, religion, names, geographical area and

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 1

education grounds. Nonetheless, these criteria are ostensibly dubious due to the fact they do

not accurately define Swahili people.

This paper, hence, reviews various theories on the origin of Swahili language and Swahili

speakers. It further examines the issues of the identification of Swahili people and offers

more accurate criteria to defining and classifying Swahili people. It concludes by providing

directions for further studies on the history of Swahili language and Swahili speakers.

The origin of Swahili Language

Because the existing views on whether Swahili is Bantu, Arabic, Creole or Pidgin, lack

compelling evidence, further studies are indispensable to determine the exact origins of

Swahili. This is necessitated by the fact that there are limited views which provide authentic

evidence about the matter. Jenkins (1996) states that:

‘’The Swahili community developed as a people group as Arab and Persian traders
established business contacts and married local women on the East African coast. This was
probably around AD 700 though some scholars think there were Arab settlements before
the advent of Islam.’’

Jenkins views that the Swahili community developed from the intermingling between Arab,

Persians, and African tribes living in the coast before Islam implies that Swahili was not

originally affiliated with Islam as claimed by some prior literatures. On the other hand, Al

Barwani (2004) says:

According to the writings of this author (the Greek author) in his book, The Periplus of Erynthrean Sea,
those Arabs had made their settlements in East Africa for centuries before his visit, and had already mixed
their blood with the local population.

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 2

In this view, Al Barwani appears seemingly supporting Jenkins on how the Swahili

community might have originated. Both Jenkins and Al Barwani consent that Swahili

emerged on the East African coast as the result of long term contact between Arabs,

Persians, and the Africans who lived there. However, both disregarded to mentioning

whether Swahili language was already spoken before or after the arrival of Arabs on the East

Africa coast: a possible root of controversy in the study of history of the Swahili language

and Swahili speakers. Though little is said, and with doubtful evidence about whether Swahili

was already spoken before the coming of Arabs, it is palpable that the indigenous African

population settled on the East African coast spoke a form of language closely related or

almost similar to the form of Swahili spoken in the East African coast and the vicinity.

Afterwards, upon the arrival of Persian tribes on the East African coast, the typical form of

Swahili as spoken today in the East African coast developed. In anycase, although it is widely

accepted that Swahili developed from the contact between Arabs, Persians, and Africans;

there is still a need to conduct further research in this area.

Who are the Swahilis?

To the present, the general impressions of Swahili people are based on factors such as ethnic

and/or religious grounds. To be more precise and detailed, the factor such as geographical

area as first stated by Stigand is incorporated. This general view point is also supported by

different scholars as stated below:

‘’ A Swahili….in a more confined sense of the word is a descendent of one

of the original Arab or Persian settlers on the east African coast.

In broader sense of the word it includes all who speak a common

Language: Swahili.’’ (Stigand, 1913)

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This view evokes numerous but barely two main interpretations. First; according to Stigand,

the Swahilis are predominantly Arab descendents who mixed with African tribes of the

coast. However, this classification alienates those who are non-Arab descendents from being

Swahilis: which is unfair to hold such a standpoint. Second, Stigand generalizes all who speak

Swahili qualify as Swahilis; a gross overgeneralization. Conspicuously, not all French

speakers are French people; the same applies to other languages coinciding with their

nationalities and so are to Swahili language and Swahili speakers.

Other sources define Swahilis as Muslim people of the East Africa coast who speak Swahili.

This view is outright illusory because it overlooks the large numbers of non Muslim Swahili

native speakers living in the East Africa coast. This view relates the arrival of Arabs and

Persians in East Africa, Islam and the emergence of Swahili language and generalizes that all

Arabs that came to East Africa were Muslims: a flaccid claim with superficial and obscuring

evidence.

Eastman’s study (1971) of Swahili people is more comprehensive, and seemingly accurate

but a little flimsy and more of complicating the issue than clarifying it substantially.

Classifying Swahili people according to five main criteria: ethnic and religious grounds,

names, geographical area, and educational grounds, Eastman derived the following

distinctive feature matrix.

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 4

 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Muslim + + + + - - - - 1

Coastal origin + + - - 2

Muslim name + + - - 3

Christian + - + - 4

name

Koran school + - + - 5

Swahili distinctive feature matrix (p.231)

NB: Number 1-8 were not in the original distinctive feature matrix of the author.

1. Mwarabu Safi (Pure Arab)

2. Mwarabu (Arab)

3. Mswahili Safi (Pure Swahili)

4. Mswahili (Swahili)

5. Mmasihi wa pwani (Christian of the coast)

6. Mwafrika wa pwani (African of the coast)

7. Mkiristo wa bara (Up country Christian)

8. Mwafrika wa bara (Up-country African)

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 5

Though this study is comprehensive, it fells short on the number of limitations. First; the

study was conducted on the heydays of the post colonial era when people could be proudly

identify others using criteria such as race or ethnicity. In the contemporary Swahili

communities, people do not rely on the use of these criteria to identify people as Swahilis.

Second, the population used in the data collection was inadequate in their knowledge of

Swahilis .Since Swahili is not an ethnic or religious language, those criteria were simply

negligible factors of identifying ones language identity. However, these criteria can be

somewhat useful to understanding Swahilis. In my own point of view, the first Swahili might

have been both or either of the two; Arab descendant and/or African. Hence forth, it is

hypothesized that both Africans and Arabs came to the East African coast with their own

languages. Through long term intermingling and intermarriages, the first Swahili speaking

generation might have developed from there on. Thus, convincingly the first Swahili people

might be Arabs, Arab-Africans (half castes), or Africans as seen today amongst Swahili

communities in East Africa. Below is my genetic network notation illustrating the

classification of Swahili people: where number 1 (AA) refers to Arab tribes coming to 3

(East Africa coast); number 2 (BB) Bantu African tribes to East African coast. Where AA

refers to Arabs and Persians; AB denotes Arab African (half castes) and BB African tribes

consistently.

Together all AA, AB, and BB can be Swahilis despite their ethnic and religious grounds,

names, education, or/ and geographical locations.

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 6

 AA
(1) BB

(3) (2)

AA
BB

AA AB BB

Swahilis genetic network notation

This genetic network notation shows that Swahili people can be Arabs, Arab African or

from any ethnic grounds including Africans, Muslim or non Muslims. They can also be from

East African coast, mainland or from the islands. But these do yet define a Swahilis as

Eastman argued. In its real sense Eastman studies discounted the concepts of inner

circle(IC), outer circle (OC) and expanding circle speakers (EC) coined by Kachru (1985) in

defining language speakers. In Swahili language these concepts are applicable. Hence, I have

come up with the diagram below illustrating Swahilis in inner, outer, and expanding circle as

follows:

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 7

 ICC

PIC

OC

EC

SWAHILI: Inner, outer, and expanding circles

As in other languages such as English, there are also inner circle speakers of Swahili. These

are defined into more sub groups; inner core (ICC), and periphery inner circle (PIC) Swahili

speakers. The Inner core Swahilis speak Swahili as their native, first language with at least

their parents (mother and father) being native speakers of Swahili. On the other hand,

Periphery inner circle speakers speak Swahili as their native, first language, though their

parents might have their own native languages apart from Swahili. Pursuant to this,

therefore, both inner core (ICC), and Periphery inner circle (PIC) speakers are defined as

Swahilis. On the contrary, outer circle speakers are non native speakers of Swahili who speak

Swahili as a second or a foreign language. These are non Swahilis (not Swahilis but Swahili

speakers) the same applies to the Swahili from the expanding circle (EC)

In summary, Swahilis are all Swahili speakers eligible for the features of inner core and

periphery inner circle despite their ethnic or religious backgrounds and other factors

mentioned and discussed before. In contrast, the Swahili speakers’ from the outer and the

expanding circles are non-native Swahili speakers who are Swahili speakers but not Swahilis.

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 8

Conclusion

The origin of Swahili language and Swahilis debate is yet resolved due to insufficiently

supported views of various scholars and lack of research conducted on this area of study.

Though widely discussed, extensive research on the true origins of Swahili language and

Swahili speakers is still compelling. As far and the exigency of this area of study is

concerned, the research will basically provide directions to a better understanding of the

subject matter and the entire history of Swahili language and the Swahilis thus ending a

perennial debate on the issue under discussion.

References

Chiraghdin, S and Mnyapala, M.1977.Historia ya Kiswahili. Oxford University Press.

Nairobi.

Eastman, C.1971.Who are the Swahili?. In Africa: Journal of the international African

Institute. Edinburgh University Press.

Kachru, 1985. In Lucy Pickering: Current research on intelligibility in English as a lingua

franca.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.USA.2006, 26:219-233

Massamba, D.B.P.2002.Historia ya Kiswahili 15 BK hadi 1500BK.

Jomo Kenyata Foundation.Nairobi.

Nurse, D.and Hinnebusch, T, J.1993.Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic history.

Berkeley and Los Angeles. University of California press

Stigand.1913.The Swahili Chapter 6:116 in Eastman, 1971:228

Yussuf S. Hamad, September, 2008, SUZA Page 9

Whiteley, W.1969.Swahili: The rise of a National Language. London: Methuen

Useful Sites

http://www.zanzinet.org/zanzibar/people.html

(Al Barwani, F.A.2004.People and Culture.Zanzinet Forum)

http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/swahili.html

(Jenkins, O.B, 996: The Swahili People of East Africa)

http://www.jstor.org/view/00019720/ap040159/04a00070/3?frame=noframe&userID=ab

4... (JSTOR: Journal of the international African institute: vol.41, No.3, and p228-231)

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