Swahili City-States

The Swahili city-state formed due to the nature of oceanic trade from the trading originally from the empires of the plains or larger kingdoms. City-States formed along the east coast and scattered on the long coasts of Africa facing the Indian and Atlantic Ocean. The merchandise for trade was the same as in the empires; gold, ivory, perfumes, exotic woods, and slaves were available to trade in the city-states for the cloth, porcelain, salt and hardware from Asia.

The Seventh century transformed the city-states when traders from southern Arabia, brought Islam with them, and thus began the belief that the Swahili where special chosen people, and their wealth appeared to confirm and immune them from the spiritual chaos of traditional African religious gods. The Swahili went on to trade east with Asia. Islam opened up trading for the Swahili to a new international trading state with the Arabs, Persians, Somalis, and the Muslims of India, Indonesia, and the Orient.

International Trading opened up new culture and prosperity. Swahili traded pottery for porcelain with China, glassware from Netherlands, household items, and iron from India, copper from Persia and traded or African goods and chattels like ivory, slaves, copal, spices, leopard skins, tortoise shell, pearls, gold, spices, and ambergris. Swahili’s controlled the wealth from the Indian Ocean Trade making them wealthy merchants having a regard for themselves as elites.