When Did the Swahili Become Maritime

Bibliographic Data

ID2258395
AuthorsJ Fleisher (0000-0002-6505-9666, Rice University, corresponding author), Paul Lane (0000-0002-9936-1310, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden, and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Sciences Witwatersrand University Johannesburg South Africa, corresponding author), Adria Laviolette (0000-0001-7689-5099, Department of Anthropology University of Virginia Charlottesville VA 22904–4120, corresponding author), Mark Horton (0000-0003-2267-8026, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology University of Bristol Bristol BS8 1UU United Kingdom, corresponding author), Edward Pollard (0000-0002-7406-7350, British Institute in Eastern Africa Kileleshwa, Nairobi Kenya), E M Quintana Morales (0000-0001-5927-5058, Éco-Anthropologie, corresponding author), Eréndira Quintana Morales (Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle Paris France), Thomas Vernet (IMAF Institut des Mondes Africains Université Paris 1 Panthéon‐Sorbonne 75004 Paris France, corresponding author), Annalisa Christie (0000-0002-5717-2925, Archaeology Institute University of the Highlands and Islands Inverness IV3 5SQ Scotland, corresponding author), Wynne-Jone (0000-0002-3005-8647, University of York, corresponding author), Stephanie Wynne‐jone, Stephanie Wynne‐Jones (Department of Archaeology University of York York YO1 7EP United Kingdom)
Year2015
Volume117
Issue1
Pages100-115
Publication date2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/aman.12171
PMID25821235
PMCIDPMC4368416
OpenAlexW1897757424
LanguageEN
Citations received85
References cited69

In this article, we examine an assumption about the historic Swahili of the eastern African coast: that they were a maritime society from their beginnings in the first millennium C.E. Based on historical and archaeological data, we suggest that, despite their proximity to and use of the sea, the level of maritimity of Swahili society increased greatly over time and was only fully realized in the early second millennium C.E. Drawing on recent theorizing from other areas of the world about maritimity as well as research on the Swahili, we discuss three arenas that distinguish first- and second-millennium coastal society in terms of their maritime orientation. These are variability and discontinuity in settlement location and permanence; evidence of increased engagement with the sea through fishing and sailing technology; and specialized architectural developments involving port facilities, mosques, and houses. The implications of this study are that we must move beyond coastal location in determining maritimity; consider how the sea and its products were part of social life; and assess whether the marine environment actively influences and is influenced by broader patterns of sociocultural organization, practice, and belief within Swahili and other societies. [maritime, fishing and sailing, long-distance trade, Swahili, eastern Africa

Archaeology · Ethnology · Fishing · Geography · Linguistics · Political science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Swahili · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History