Rise of Swahili Coast Trade

Name: Rise of Swahili Coast Trade
Start: 701
End: 800

Type Event Region East Africa Time 701–800

Around the 8th century, an embryonic maritime trade network of port settlements emerged on the western Indian Ocean coast of East Africa, with deepen…

Timeline

701–750Northern Kenyan coast · KenyaFishing and farming-pastoralist settlements used monsoon sea lanes to trade with foreign merchants for glass beads, textiles, and metalware; the first settlements with trading functions appeared along the coast.
750–800Northern Tanzanian coast · TanzaniaIvory and gold reached the ports via interior trade routes, and Arabic loanwords and elements of Islamic belief began to permeate local society, paving the way for larger-scale city-state trade chains after the 9th century.

Sources

Horton, M. & Middleton, J., The Swahili: Africa's Dispersed Urbanites — Mark Horton, John Middleton (2000)
Chittick, H.N., Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast — H. Neville Chittick (1974)