swahili coast

I just wanted to know what somalia looked like in its prime on a map and i was curious did somalia occupy the swahili coast and zanzibar at one point?
 

Som

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Some parts of southern somalia were sometimes considered part of the Swahili cultural sphere like Baraawe were they still speak a Swahili dialect. If anything most coastal areas South of Mogadishu/ merca were Swahili influenced and then Somalized and inhabited by somalis after the Ajuuraan expansion
 

killerxsmoke

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Some parts of southern somalia were sometimes considered part of the Swahili cultural sphere like Baraawe were they still speak a Swahili dialect. If anything most coastal areas South of Mogadishu/ merca were Swahili influenced and then Somalized and inhabited by somalis after the Ajuuraan expansion
Haiwya were in merca even before 1000AD
 

Hamzza

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Some parts of southern somalia were sometimes considered part of the Swahili cultural sphere like Baraawe were they still speak a Swahili dialect. If anything most coastal areas South of Mogadishu/ merca were Swahili influenced and then Somalized and inhabited by somalis after the Ajuuraan expansion
I don't know why historians add all the Benadir ports to the Swahili Coast sphere, yes there is some Swahili influence, but the ports and the inland were always inhabited by Somalis & some Arabs and the Bantus in the Benadir if there were any were slaves imported from the south.
 

killerxsmoke

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That's a wikipedia bullshit tbh
Screenshot_20230205-160827_eBoox.jpg

Screenshot_20230205-161344_Chrome.jpg
 
You need to again understand that the term Somali was limited to the rural nomads at that time, just like how Arab was used in the time of the prophet (saw) or Turk was used in the Ottoman Empire. Urban people did not call themselves Somalis even though they used the Somali language or a dialect thereof to speak.
 

Som

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I don't know why historians add all the Benadir ports to the Swahili Coast sphere, yes there is some Swahili influence, but the ports and the inland were always inhabited by Somalis & some Arabs and the Bantus in the Benadir if there were any were slaves imported from the south.
Yes sometimes they exaggerate. The major costal towns are Merca, Mogadishu, Barawe and Kismayo (which is a more recent city). Out of these three only Barawe could possibly be classified as Swahili because of the language but still the Somali character of the city is there.
 

Som

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You need to again understand that the term Somali was limited to the rural nomads at that time, just like how Arab was used in the time of the prophet (saw) or Turk was used in the Ottoman Empire. Urban people did not call themselves Somalis even though they used the Somali language or a dialect thereof to speak.
We don't have evidence of the term Somali before the 15th century. Previously what we now know as Somali were called barbaar by the Arabs. There's evidence of somalis living in an urban setting that were defined as Barbar , example: inhabitants of zeila, sultan of Mogadishu, inhabitants of Merca (Hawiye) etc all three people were labeled as barbar so at least outsiders knew that the people of Merca and Mogadishu were from the same ethnicity as the ones in Zeila
 

El Nino

Cabsi cabsi
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Some parts of southern somalia were sometimes considered part of the Swahili cultural sphere like Baraawe were they still speak a Swahili dialect. If anything most coastal areas South of Mogadishu/ merca were Swahili influenced and then Somalized and inhabited by somalis after the Ajuuraan expansion
Baraawe, a city south of Marka was founded and ruled by the somalis living there, the Tunni. Their language/dialect is spoken there with swahili also.
 

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