Neville Chittick, KILWA: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast, 2 vols., British Institute in Eastern Africa Memoir Number 5 (Nairobi: 1974; distributed by Thames & Hudson, London1975). Pp. xviii + 514, pls. 168, figs. 185.

1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-126
Author(s):  
George T. Scanlon
Author(s):  
Stephanie Wynne-Jones

Tanzania's central caravan route, joining Lake Tanganyika to the East African coast, was an important artery of trade, with traffic peaking in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and associated particularly with ivory, but also with the export of slaves. The central caravan route has recently been chosen as a focus for the memorialisation of the slave trade in eastern Africa, as part of a project headed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in collaboration with the Antiquities Division of Tanzania, and in response to a wider UNESCO-sponsored agenda. Yet the attempt to memorialise slavery along this route brings substantial challenges, both of a practical nature and in the ways that we think about material remains. This chapter explores some of these challenges in the context of existing heritage infrastructure, archaeologies of slavery, and the development of the region for tourism. It highlights the need for a more nuanced archaeology of this route's slave heritage.


Antiquity ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (290) ◽  
pp. 797-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Breen ◽  
Wes Forsythe ◽  
Paul Lane ◽  
Tom McErlean ◽  
Rosemary McConkey ◽  
...  

In January 2001, a team of researchers from the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) conducted an innovative maritime archaeology project on the East African coast in partnership with the British Institute in Eastern Africa and the National Museums of Kenya. Its focus was Mombasa Island on the southern Kenyan coast, a historical settlement and port for nearly 2000 years (Berg 1968; Sassoon 1980; 1982). The East African seaboard, stretching from Somalia in the north to Madagascar and Mozambique in the south, was culturally dynamic throughout the historical period. This area, traditionally known as the Swahili coast, is culturally defined as a maritime zone extending 2000 km from north to south, but reaching a mere 15 hi inland. The origins of ‘Swahili’ cultural identity originated during the middle of the 1st millennium AD, following consolidation of earlier farming and metalusing Bantu-speaking communities along the coast and emergence of a distinctive ‘maritime’ orientation and set of cultural traditions (eg Allen 1993; Chami 1998; Helm 2000; Horton & Middelton 2000). Previous research produced evidence of exploitation of marine resources for food and an early engagement in longdistance exchange networks, linking parts ofthis coast with the Classical world by at least the BC/AD transition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Sulaiti Dawud Kabali

Generally speaking, Muslims of Eastern Africa in general, and of Uganda in particular, lagged behind in education for a long period of time. This fact goes back to the time when Islam penetrated the East African coast. The interest of Arabs who introduced and taught Islam to the people of the coast was trade and many of them were neither trained nor did they possess any professional skills to propagate Islam. They did this job on a voluntary basis in anticipation of God’s reward. On the contrary, the Christian missionaries who came to the region were skilled, equipped and had been officially sent by various authorities to do the job of spreading Christianity. Therefore, when they arrived in the region, they embarked on building well equipped schools and all their activities were geared towards promoting Christianity among the whole population which scared Muslim parents from taking their children to these schools. Consequently, Muslim schools – mainly madrasah pl. madaris, were built to counter the force of missionary schools. These madaris, however, were not by any standards, comparable with the missionary schools. Unfortunately, this situation has continued to this day in some of the madaris due to numerous reasons, some of which are of the Muslims’ own making and which I believe could be avoided provided that the Muslims put their heads together. In spite of this fact, these schools have contributed highly to the development of human resource in Uganda and elsewhere, as highlighted in this paper. May Allah help me. Amiin.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeniyi Charles Adeola ◽  
Bernard R Agwanda ◽  
Hojjat Asadollahpour Nanaei ◽  
Yajiang Wu ◽  
Yan-Hu Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: During Early Indian Ocean trade, many species of animals were transported along the routes and destinations especially in eastern Africa. The influence of this historical trade on genetic relationships of historically popular pets such as domestic cats, in East African Coast and Persian Gulf has never been evaluated. Herein, we analyzed variation in mitochondrial DNA sequences from one African wildcat together with 59 feral and domestic cats from East African coastal-Lamu (EAC-Lamu) (n=41) and Iran (n=18) to evaluate possibility of exchange of these animals during the historical trade. Results: From this analysis, all ND5 & ND6 sequences of EAC-Lamu and Iranian cats can be assigned into one haplogroup. The haplotype sharing pattern between these two regions is detected in the network. The whole genome analyses reveal cats from EAC-Lamu and Iran cluster into one branch whereas other cat breeds cluster separately into other branches. The demographic history inference further confirms the relationship between EAC-Lamu and Iranian indigenous cats split around 2,800 years ago, followed by gene flow as a result of human activities.Conclusions: Our results unveil the diversity and existing relationship between indigenous cats from Iran and EAC-Lamu due to historical trade. The current data do not permit us to make further conclusions; therefore, more research evidence from genetics and archaeology may provide further insights into the direction of genetic influence of this historical trade.


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