Swahili...The Language and People

When I first chose to research "Swahili" I knew that somewhere along the way I had heard this word but didn't know if it was just a language, a group of people or some far off place that I had yet to discover but after the first few minutes of research I realized that Swahili is all of these things and more, even having its own way of telling time. "Swahili time" runs from dawn to dusk, instead of midnight to midday. So for example, 7am and 7pm are both one o'clock while midnight and midday are six o'clock.

The Swahili language is derived from a multitude of backgrounds, ranging from Arabic, Persian, German, Portuguese, Indian and English. This diverse culmination stems from centuries of trading with far off nations from all over the world, although the Arabic language has the most direct influence over the Swahili vocabulary (around 35% of the words are derived from Arabic).

Only around 5-10 million people speak Swahili as a first language, while 80 million speak it as a second language and it is the only language utilized in the African Union that is actually of African descent.

Even though this culture is so multifaceted and its language alone is conceived from several other places, no one is truely certain of the exact time and place that Swahili first emerged as a culture. It is assumed that the Swahili speaking people have occupied areas near the Indian Ocean (their present territories) since before AD 1000! In addition to this geographical history it is thought that the Swahili people actually got their name from their location near the sea, those who speak the language of Swahili call it 'Kiswahili', which comes from the plural of the Arabic word sāhil meaning "boundary" or "coast" (used as an adjective to mean "coastal dwellers") and because Arab and Persian traders are known to have had extensive contact with the coastal peoples from at least the 6th Century of the Christian Era, it is not far fetched to think that the Swahili culture was greatly influenced by these middle eastern traders.

It is slightly difficult to trace the birth of the Swahili culture, but its believed that it actually began thousands of years ago on the eastern coast of Africa (which was seen as highly valuable commercial land). Beacuse of this, many Muslims and Bantu speaking people settled along the African coast and this combination of peoples came to create a unique language and culture known as the Swahili civilization.Since the Swahili culture is diverse due to its many origins, in Swahili cuisine you will find influences from Indian, Arabic, and European cultures. There are also alterations to certain dishes due to religious reasons. For instance pork is seldom used in food because most of the Swahili are Muslim. Some food that is common in the everyday lives of the Swahili is fish, tropical fruits, and exotic spices.