The Swahili Coast on the shores of East Africa was a region where Africans and Arabs mixed to create a unique identity from the 8th century called Swahili Culture. Swahili is the name of their language and means 'people of the coast.' The coast blossomed into a number of important, independent trading cities which included Mombasa, Mogadishu, and Zanzibar.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 750Muslim traders from Arabia begin to settle on the Swahili Coast.
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c. 1100 - c. 1500The trading city-states of Africa's Swahili Coast flourish.
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8 Jul 1497 - Aug 1499The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope and on to India and back.
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1505The Portuguese begin to attack cities and build forts along the Swahili Coast in order to control trade.
