7th century – 15th century
East African coast and adjacent hinterlands
Zanj was the term used by early Arab geographers for populations of the East African coast. Ninth- and tenth-century accounts describe communities with kings, military forces, agriculture, cattle keeping, formal religious specialists, and diets based on sorghum, cocoyam, coconuts, bananas, honey, and meat. The relationship between Cushitic pastoral and Bantu-speaking elements within Zanj society remains uncertain.
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The Story
Arab writers of the ninth and tenth centuries referred to the East African coast and its inhabitants as Zanj. Their descriptions present a varied society rather than a single uniform population. Al-Mas'udi wrote of cattle-keeping and cattle-riding people associated with Ethiopian or Cushitic stock, while linguistic evidence and earlier settlement patterns point to the presence of Bantu-speaking communities on the coast and in the hinterland.
The Zanj were described as possessing kings whose authority was connected in some fashion with election, as well as troops under royal command. Religious life also had a public dimension: al-Jahiz reported holy men preaching before the people in the presence of the king. Agricultural production included sorghum, an aroid identified as a type of cocoyam, coconuts, and bananas, while honey and meat supplemented the diet.
The relation between the Cushitic pastoral element and the Bantu-speaking population cannot be established from the evidence presented. One possibility is that pastoralists formed a ruling class; another is that the two groups lived alongside each other. Archaeology indicates iron-using agricultural settlements in the hinterland from the early centuries AD, whereas securely dated coastal settlements begin only in the ninth or tenth century.
7th century – 15th century
East African coast and adjacent hinterlands
Zanj was the term used by early Arab geographers for populations of the East African coast. Ninth- and tenth-century accounts describe communities with kings, military forces, agriculture, cattle keeping, formal religious specialists, and diets based on sorghum, cocoyam, coconuts, bananas, honey, and meat. The relationship between Cushitic pastoral and Bantu-speaking elements within Zanj society remains uncertain.
Continue exploring
The Story
Arab writers of the ninth and tenth centuries referred to the East African coast and its inhabitants as Zanj. Their descriptions present a varied society rather than a single uniform population. Al-Mas'udi wrote of cattle-keeping and cattle-riding people associated with Ethiopian or Cushitic stock, while linguistic evidence and earlier settlement patterns point to the presence of Bantu-speaking communities on the coast and in the hinterland.
The Zanj were described as possessing kings whose authority was connected in some fashion with election, as well as troops under royal command. Religious life also had a public dimension: al-Jahiz reported holy men preaching before the people in the presence of the king. Agricultural production included sorghum, an aroid identified as a type of cocoyam, coconuts, and bananas, while honey and meat supplemented the diet.
The relation between the Cushitic pastoral element and the Bantu-speaking population cannot be established from the evidence presented. One possibility is that pastoralists formed a ruling class; another is that the two groups lived alongside each other. Archaeology indicates iron-using agricultural settlements in the hinterland from the early centuries AD, whereas securely dated coastal settlements begin only in the ninth or tenth century.