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Pate Island
Pate (Paté) Island () is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. It is the largest island in the Lamu Archipelago, which lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga in the former Coast Province. The island is almost completely surrounded by mangroves. Like much of the Swahili Coast, Pate's history was marked by a steady transition from agricultural communities in the early first millennium into a specialized, urban trading society around the 10th century, likely earlier. Islam spread down the coast from African Muslims in the Horn of Africa, helping to develop what would be known as the Swahili culture. Despite myths to the contrary, Pate was neither an Arab nor Persian colony, but an African town frequented by trading Arabs, Persians, Indians, and others. It was the centre of the Pate sultanate from the 13th–19th centuries. The Swahili port of Pate long vied with Lamu and Takwa (on Manda Island) for economic dominance of the ar ...
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Kenya
) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , official_languages = Constitution (2009) Art. 7 ational, official and other languages"(1) The national language of the Republic is Swahili. (2) The official languages of the Republic are Swahili and English. (3) The State shall–-–- (a) promote and protect the diversity of language of the people of Kenya; and (b) promote the development and use of indigenous languages, Kenyan Sign language, Braille and other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with disabilities." , languages_type = National language , languages = Swahili , ethnic_groups = , ethnic_groups_year = 2019 census , religion = , religion_year = 2019 census , demonym ...
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Sultanate
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continuing through to the present day. The first-ever establishment of an Islamic polity goes back to the Islamic State of Medina, which was established by Muhammad in the city of Medina in 622 CE. Following his death in 632 CE, his immediate successors established the Rashidun Caliphate, which was further succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate and later the Abbasid Caliphate. While the primary caliphates gradually fractured and fell, other Muslim dynasties rose; some of these dynasties established notable and prominent Islamic empires, such as the Ottoman Empire centered around Anatolia, the Safavid Empire of Persia, and the Mughal Empire in India. Middle East and North Africa Mesopotamia and Levant (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria) *U ...
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Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is known as "the white and blue city" in Kenya. It is the country's oldest (circa 900 AD) and second-largest cityThe World Factbook
. Cia.gov. Retrieved on 17 August 2013.
after the capital Nairobi, with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census. Its metropolitan region is the second-largest in the country, and has a population of 3,528,940 people. Mombasa's location on the Indian Ocean made it a his ...
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Mazrui
The Mazrui or Mazar'i () were an Omani Arab clan that reigned over some areas of East Africa, especially Kenya, from the 18th to the 20th century. In the 18th century they governed Mombasa and other coastal places and opposed the Omani Al Bu Sa'id Dynasty that ruled over Zanzibar. On at least one occasion they attacked Stone Town allying with the Portuguese. When the British East Africa Protectorate was established in the late 19th century, the Mazrui were one of the groups that most actively resisted the British rule, along with the Kikuyu and Kamba people. Notable people * Ali Mazrui Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included Dir ..., academic and writer Footnotes Further reading * Akinola, G.A. (1968): ''The Mazrui of Mombasa''. Year: 1968. Periodical: Tarikh. Volume: ...
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Lamu Island
Lamu Island is a port, city, and island just off the shore of Kenya in the Indian Ocean approximately 150 miles from Mombasa. It is a part of the East African country of Kenya. Lamu was founded in the 12th Century. Lamu is one of the longest established, and best preserved remaining settlements of the Swahili tradition in east Africa that remains today. The island has continually been inhabited for over seven hundred years, and continues to be an important center in eastern Africa. Swahili Culture The island of Lamu is a Swahili settlement filled with culture. Prior to the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, people of various countries and regions migrated to the island of Lamu. Traders and sailors from the Arabian Peninsula, China, India and South-East Asia traveled across the Indian Ocean to the East African Coast to reach the island of Lamu. The diverse mixture of sailors and traders with the native people of the Lamu island created distinguishable social classes and a diver ...
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Battle Of Shela
The Battle of Shela (or Kuduhu) occurred around 1812 on the sand dunes near the village of Shela on Lamu Island, in what is now Kenya, just south of the larger village of Lamu. The people of Lamu won against superior forces from Mombasa and Pate. The battle led to the domination of the coast by the rulers of Oman. Background The Lamu Archipelago is a group of three islands off the coast of what is now Kenya. The largest and most fertile is Pate, the northernmost. Manda lies to the south of Pate, separated by a narrow channel from Lamu, the farthest south. Manda and Lamu are sandy and covered with dunes. Lamu supports mango and coconut trees. The islands provide the best anchorages on the coast north of Mombasa. The battle was one of several between the people of Lamu and Pate during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time of the war the population of Lamu was estimated at between 15,000 and 21,000, and the town was expanding its trade while Pate was in decline. The sultans of Pa ...
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Utendi Wa Tambuka
''Utend̠i wa Tambuka'', also known as ''Utenzi wa Tambuk''aThe symbol ''d̠'' is a transliteration of the Arabic for the Swahili sound ''dh'' (). Often this sound is written simply ''z'', hence the different spellings. ("The Story of Tambuka"), ''Utenzi wa Hirqal'' or ''Kyuo kya Hereḳali'' (the book of Heraclius), is an epic poem in the Swahili language, dated 1728. It is one of the earliest known documents in Swahili. Known by various titles in English, including ''The Book of the Battle of Tambuka'' and ''The Story of Heraclius'', the story recounts numerous events of the Byzantine-Arab Wars and Byzantine-Ottoman Wars between the Muslims and Romans (the contemporary name for the Byzantines). The Byzantines were represented by the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Heraclius. The story covers a period from 628 (the Battle of Mu'tah) to 1453 (the Fall of Constantinople). "Tambuka" is the Swahili rendering of Tabuk, a city located in north-western Saudi Arabia. The oldest ...
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Swahili Language
Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili has borrowed a number of words from foreign languages, particularly Arabic, but also words from Portuguese, English and German. Around forty percent of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language ( , a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coast'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab slave traders and the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region. The number of Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be approximately 200 million. Due to concerted efforts by the government of Tanzania, Swahili is one of three official lang ...
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Mark Horton (archaeologist)
Mark Chatwin Horton, FSA (born 15 February 1956) is a British maritime and historical archaeologist, television presenter, and writer Academic career Horton attended Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating and receiving a doctorate. He is Professor of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Bristol. One of his former students is the archaeologist and television presenter Sam Willis. He is part of a new project to establish the Cultural Heritage Institute in the former Great Western Railway carriage works at Swindon, that will offer research and masters training from 2020. He has conducted excavations in Zanzibar, Egypt, the Caribbean, North America, Central America and France, as well as sites in Britain. His chief publications are on the Swahili site of Shanga, Kenya between 1980 and 1986 and more recently sites on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, notably Tumbatu, Ras Mkumbuu, Mta ...
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Neville Chittick
Dr. Neville H. Chittick (September 18, 1924 – July 27, 1984) was a British scholar and archaeologist. He specialized in the historic cultures of Northeast Africa, and also devoted various works to the Swahili Coast. Biography Chittick was born in 1924. In a professional capacity, he initially worked with Max Mallowan as general field assistant in Nimrud in 1951 and later in Sudan as the Director of Antiquities.Ogot, 2003. (p. 308). He later lived in Tanganyika, serving as the colonial territory's first Conservator of Antiquities. In 1961, Chittick was appointed the first Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi. He worked in that position until 1983. After a long career in archaeology, Chittick died in 1984. He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground. Expeditions Chittick's expeditions and residence on the Swahili Coast produced a body of research into the pre-colonial sites Kilwa Kisiwani and the port of Manda Island. He also wrote ...
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