On 9.12.1961, today’s Tanzania, then Tanganyika and under British power, gained independence. Independence from Britain was significant, but prior to Britain’s occupation, Tanzania was occupied and fought over by many a nation.
From 975 A.D., and perhaps earlier, the first Muslim Arabs came to the East African Coast. This led to other traders from Persia and India following suit. Goods and services were consequently traded, such as spices and ivory, but so were slaves, which would be the first instance of foreign slavery in East Africa.
The relationship between these merchants and the coast counterparts would develop into a complex trade network. The traders were aided by powerful Coastal tribes in the area that would sell goods and procure slaves from inland and sell them to the Arab traders. The Arabs settled on the island and coastal cities which led some of them taking on Tanzanian concubines.
An interesting point to note, Tanzanian’s that converted to Islam could not be sold, and the children of Arab and Tanzanians were effectively free. Moreover the organic melding of Arabic trade outposts with local Tanzanians called for a very close cooperation of Arabic and ‘Bantu’ (Tanzanian tribes) which developed into a shared coastal language of trade and exchange, called Swahili, (this is derived from the Arabic word ‘Sahil’, meaning coast).
Swahili would continue changing and evolving and it would at a point comprise of about 40% Arabic vocabulary. At the time of Arabic rule it was taught and written in Arabic alphabet which facilitated the instruction and assimilation of Islam.
It would not be long that European powers would turn their interest to this lucrative and thriving trade route. The first to come, were the Portuguese that challenged the Arabs foothold in Tanzania, some ground was gained but they soon lost it back to the Arabs. Nevertheless some words of Swahili carry the mark of this period, such as the word bendera ‘flag’ (Portuguese).
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, once the German and later on, the British colonial regime took power. Swahili would further be standardised and used as a language of administration and education. Notably the script was changed to latin alphabets and consequently new words and rules were decided by the foreign powers with very little input of the local population.
Despite these interventions, Swahili has remained a flexible language that took in these changes and incorporated them. This can be seen in it’s vocabulary, for example, kitabu ‘book’ (Arabic), pesa ‘money’ (Hindi), shule ‘school’ (German) etc.
A speaker of Swahili, is defined as a ‘Mswahili’ (litterally, coastal person) but this does not denote any particular ethnic or tribal affiliation.
So when Julius Nyere, the first president of the new-born Republic of Tanganyika and Sansibar (later Republic of Tanzania), was elected, having a background as an educator and a plan of socialist reform, his government decided to use Swahili as a unifier of the nation that had not yet full embraced the language.
The aim was to consciously smoothen out the differences between the various tribes in favour of ‘Ujamaa’ (fraternity) socialism. Despite his government’s lofty goals and foreign enthusiasm, Julius Nyere’s term would be marred in cases of corruption and authoritarianism that led to him peaceful resigning in 1985.
However, one of the positive outcomes of his influence was the further implementation of Swahili and it’s ability to unite different peoples. It has been now adopted as a second language by Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, East DRC, etc. and it is an official working language of the African Union and the East African Community. UNESCO declared July 7 as World Swahili Day.
Despite Swahili’s complex history it is born of the continent and holds the potential of being an alternative lingua franca that could be favoured to Western languages.
