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Swahili culture is the culture of the Swahili people inhabiting the Swahili Coast. This littoral area encompasses Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique, as well as the adjacent islands of Zanzibar and Comoros and some parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi. They speak Swahili as their native language, which belongs to the Niger-Congo family. Swahili culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region, an area that has been influenced by Middle Eastern, Indian, Persian and Portuguese cultures. As with the Swahili language, Swahili culture has a Bantu core that has been modified by those foreign influences. ==History== The Swahili culture and language began to take form around the 2nd-3rd century AD, as a consequence of the highly successful Persians and Arab merchants and explorers creating trading settlements on the Swahili Coast and nearby islands and mixing with the local Bantu people. The period from the 10th to the 15th century in the eastern African Great Lakes region is often referred to as the "Shirazi Era", as many trading settlements were created by Shirazi people. There is controversy among academia as to whether the Shirazi peoples were ethnically Persian or native Swahili people's culturally Persianized. The culture that formed from the interaction between Arabic, Persian and Bantu traditions and habits was further enriched with influences from the Far East as a consequence of long-distance trading routes crossing the Indian Ocean. Beginning in Kenya and Tanzania, the Swahili culture eventually spread to Mozambique.〔(''Swahili Culture'' ). 2006. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved on 2009-04-01〕 During the Shirazi Era, several city-states flourished along the Swahili Coast and adjacent islands; some examples are Kilwa, Malindi, Gedi, Pate, Comoros and Zanzibar. These early Swahili city-states were Muslim, cosmopolitan and politically independent of each other.〔(Swahili Information ). ''Art & Life in Africa''. 1998. The University of Iowa. Retrieved on 2009-04-01〕 They all competed against one another for the best of the Great Lakes region's trade business. The chief exports of these cultures were slaves, ebony, gold, ivory, and sandalwood. These city-states began to decline towards the sixteenth century, mainly as a consequence of the Portugueses' advent. Eventually, Swahili trading centers went out of business and commerce between Africa and Asia on the Indian Ocean collapsed. Aspects of Swahili culture are diverse due to its many origins when it first developed. For example, Swahili cuisine has influences from Indian, Arabic, and European cultures. There are also alterations to certain dishes due to religious reasons.〔(Dishes ), Mwambo.com Retrieved on 2009-04-01〕 Some food items common in everyday lives of the Swahili are fish, tropical fruits, and exotic spices. Historic Swahili culture was intensely urban and dominated by a strict class structure, with an elite group called the Waungwana identifying themselves as Arab-African, and determined to distinguish themselves from the purely Bantu population. These preoccupations are evident in the Kilwa Chronicle, a fragmentary local history dating to before 1552.〔Garlake, Peter, ''Early Art and Architecture of Africa'', p. 169, Oxford, 2002〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Swahili culture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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