WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Prominent settlements of the Zanj coast included Malindi, Gedi, and Mombasa. By the late medieval period, the area included at least 37 substantial Swahili trading towns, many of them quite wealthy.

Detailed explanation-2: -Abstract: The word ‘Zanj’ (sometimes ‘Zinj’) is a collective noun which frequently occurs in mediaeval Arabic texts with reference to Africans. Occasionally it is used as a toponym, more frequently as an ethnonym. In the Caliphate, the word Zanj usually referred to slaves.

Detailed explanation-3: -Swahili coast cultures are diverse African cultures, made up of a confluence of peoples. They are traders and farmers, cattle keepers, & fisher people who have moved and interacted across land and sea for centuries (see chronology table below), and importantly, before the rise of Islam in the late 8th century.

Detailed explanation-4: -East Africa …they sailed Azania, or the Land of Zanj-by which they meant the land of the blacks and by which they knew it until the 10th century.

Detailed explanation-5: -During that time, the Swahili Coast comprised numerous city-states that traded across the Indian Ocean. The city-states were independent sultanates, although they shared a common language (Swahili) and religion (Islam). They traded across the Indian Ocean for items, such as pottery, silks, and glassware.