What are some good in-depth sources on the Swahili City-States?
- Thread starter leopard9
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The only one I've read is "City-states of the Swahili Coast" by Thomas Wilson, but it's at a fairly simple level.
The go-to book would appear to be
"the Rise and Fall of Swahili States" by Chapurukah Kusimba (1999); God knows how much it costs or whether it's available.
A fascinating culture. I spent some time there while backpacking through East Africa in the early 1970s. You always run into people who say "You should have been here 10/20 years ago before the tourists ruined it"- I was! Lamu in 1974 was like Goa or Kathmandu in 1965- only one hotel (the colonial Petley's) and one guesthouse- (the Pole Pole (slowly-slowly)).
To get there you had to cross a river on the mainland where everybody had to pile out of the bus to haul the ferry by rope across the river.
Tiny winding streets; huge wooden doors on the houses where they still had the big wooden spikes to keep elephants out (even though there were no elephants); fishing dhows in the harbour; pieces of old Chinese pottery used as filling for cracks in walls. Amazingly once a centre of trade across the Indian Ocean.
The go-to book would appear to be
"the Rise and Fall of Swahili States" by Chapurukah Kusimba (1999); God knows how much it costs or whether it's available.
A fascinating culture. I spent some time there while backpacking through East Africa in the early 1970s. You always run into people who say "You should have been here 10/20 years ago before the tourists ruined it"- I was! Lamu in 1974 was like Goa or Kathmandu in 1965- only one hotel (the colonial Petley's) and one guesthouse- (the Pole Pole (slowly-slowly)).
To get there you had to cross a river on the mainland where everybody had to pile out of the bus to haul the ferry by rope across the river.
Tiny winding streets; huge wooden doors on the houses where they still had the big wooden spikes to keep elephants out (even though there were no elephants); fishing dhows in the harbour; pieces of old Chinese pottery used as filling for cracks in walls. Amazingly once a centre of trade across the Indian Ocean.
Less in-depth but a really useful source (which is avaible freely) : UNESCO General History of Africa
Namely these chapters :
Book 3, Chapter 21 ("Coast of Eastern Africa and Comores")
Book 4, Chapter 18 ("Rise of Swahili Civilisation"), Chapter 19 ("Between shores and Great Lakes")
Book 5, Chapter 25 ("The oriental coast of Africa")
Namely these chapters :
Book 3, Chapter 21 ("Coast of Eastern Africa and Comores")
Book 4, Chapter 18 ("Rise of Swahili Civilisation"), Chapter 19 ("Between shores and Great Lakes")
Book 5, Chapter 25 ("The oriental coast of Africa")
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Michael Pearson's book 'Port cities and intruders' is an excellent look at the Swahili coast under Portuguese rule.
Not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for, mind. But it does cover the pre-existing politics of the region and how Portugal fitted into that.
Not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for, mind. But it does cover the pre-existing politics of the region and how Portugal fitted into that.