What did Swahili city-states trade?
The city-states were independent sultanates, although they shared a common language (Swahili) and religion (Islam). They traded across the Indian Ocean for items, such as pottery, silks, and glassware.
What were Swahili trade cities?
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.
How did the Swahili city-states impact trade?
These city-states truly achieved international trade dominance around 1350 CE, after they had all converted to Islam. Muslim merchants controlled the world’s most extensive inland and maritime trade routes, and the Swahili city-states had attracted a large number of Persian merchants looking to expand.
What are 3 things that were traded in the city-states of Swahili?
The Swahili city-states growth was due largely to the increase in trade along the Indian Ocean Basin. Merchants traded gold, slaves and ivory for pottery, glassware, and textiles from Persia, India and China.
What was the basis of the Swahili city states economy?
The basis of Swahili economy has been the long-distance commerce between the interior of Africa and the countries of the northern Indian Ocean, in which they played the role of middlemen merchants.
What was the basis of the Swahili city-states economy?
How did the city states of the coast become wealthy?
City States grew wealthy through trade. Due to the geography of Italy, there was a long coastline. They were centrally located in order to trade with Spain and France to the west but also with Byzantine and Ottoman empires in the east. The Crusades brought Italian Merchants into contact with Arab merchants.
How did the development of Swahili enhance trade?
By adopting the religion of the many Muslim merchants trading in the Indian Ocean, better connections were made. This probably made these cities more attractive to merchants, thereby creating better commercial opportunities.
What did African city-states do to increase trade on the east coast of Africa?
From approximately 1000 to 1500 AD, a number of city-states on the eastern coast of Africa participated in an international trade network and became cosmopolitan Islamic cultural centers. Over time, these villages intensified their small-scale agricultural economies to create surpluses for trading.
How did Swahili city states develop?
The earliest Swahili towns emerged in the 8th century and, with increasing trade and wealth, developed into prosperous and complex city-states in the 15th century before they were displaced by the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries, Omani in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Europeans in the 20th century.
Where did the Swahili city states come from?
Swahili City States Swahili City States were trading states along the east coast of Africa, from Kenya to Mozambique. The Swahili City States provided and connected african raw material to the rest of the Indian Ocean world–Arabia, India, Persia, China and vice-versa.
What kind of trade did the Swahili do?
Merchants traded gold, slaves and ivory for pottery, glassware, and textiles from Persia, India and China. City-states were governed by kings, who controlled the trade, as well as the taxes. Swahili relied on their trade, merchants were very wealthy and wore nice clothes of the best cloth.
When did the Portuguese arrive on the Swahili Coast?
History. The Portuguese arrived along the Swahili Coast in 1498. By 1503, they were bent on conquest in the name of Christianity and attacked Zanzibar. By 1503, they attacked Kilwa, Mombasa, and Barawa. The Portuguese were never able to gain control of the Swahili City States, and its trading networks.
What was the first building built in Swahili?
One of the earliest examples of monumental Swahili Architecture is the trade emporium, palace of Husuni Kubwa, lying west of Kilwa, built about 1245. As with many other early Swahili buildings, coral was the main construction material, and the roof was constructed by attaching coral to timbers.