The Waswahili Community Trust UK
(Wadhamini wa Jumuiya ya Waswahili)
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The Waswahili Community Trust UK |
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The great barrier which protected the Indian Ocean equilibrium was the Cape of Storms. When a Swahili mariner - said to be called Shihabuddin - showed the Portuguese how to triangulate - or kubisha - and conquer the storms, the Cape of Good Hope marked the intrusion of European power in the Indian Ocean and nothing became the same again thereafter.
All European powers - the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Germans and most important of all, the British have exerted great influence on Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean altogether. However you might like to look at it, the entry of the British marked the progressive decline of the mainstay of the Swahili mercantile civilization.
The Swahilis have never been imperialists. They have never been a military people. They have been warriors with a ravishing taste for blood. They have never been known to invade other people or even to try and colonize them or dominate them.
They were not territorial terrestrial expansionists. They have occupied probably hitherto unoccupied off-shore islands but have never invaded other peoples. They were - and still are - lovers of peace rather than of war.
The advent of Europeans and the British in particular meant that the free trade that had existed in the Indian Ocean was brought to a halt. The Portuguese first and the British later wanted and did dominate shipping in this area. With the arrival of steam engines and the restrictions imposed by the British meant that the extent of the free trade between various Indian Ocean traders was now forcibly put in the hands or under the control of foreign European powers.
The last 500 years have therefore largely been years of decline of the Indian Ocean indigenous trade. What is more, the hinterland of Africa which was free to trade as it wished now came under the yoke of European powers. It was Europeans who were prescribing what could be sold or bought. What was therefore a European dawn in the Indian Ocean marked the eclipse of the Swahili mercantile civilization.
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Registered Charity:1083065