The Rise and Fall of Swahili States (African Archaeology Series) - Softcover

Kusimba, Chapurukha M.

4.2

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9780761990529: The Rise and Fall of Swahili States (African Archaeology Series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761990526 ISBN 13: 9780761990529

Publisher: Altamira Press, 1999

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The Swahili civilization was a fascinating and complex system_a group of advanced cultures with large economic networks, international maritime trade, and urban sophistication. This book documents the growth of Swahili civilization on the eastern coast of Africa, from 100 B.C. to the time of European colonialism in the sixteenth century. Using archaeological, anthropological, and historical information, Chapurukha M. Kusimba describes the origins of this unique and powerful culture, including its Islamic components, architecture, language, and trading systems. Incorporating the results of his own surveys and excavations, Kusimba provides us with a remarkable African-derived study of the rise and collapse of societies on the Swahili Coast.

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About the Author:

The Field Museum, Chicago

Review:

Kusimba reminds us that pre-Colonial Africa inspired vital coastal civilizations, born of indigenous African folkways and nurtured the interior kingdoms into a world mercantile system. (Joseph O. Vogel)

This volume presents an excellent summary of the state of Swahili archaeology. Dr. Kusimba...is to be congratulated for all his efforts to make what could be seen as esoteric knowledge in modern Africa directly relevant to contemporary Kenyans and others. (LaViolette, Adria African-American Archaeology)

Undoubtedly this is a highly significant publication. It is the first general synthesis by an archaeologist of the archaeology, history and ethnography of the communities which have flourished along Africa's Indian Ocean coastline.... More significantly, this book is produced by one of the new generation of African scholars whose collective talent will shape the future of archaeology on the continent.... In the context of contemporary knowledge systems within Kenya and along the Swahili coast, this volume is likely to have a much more profound influence on the way people draw on the past and think about themselves than would a comparable work on Europe or the USA. This book can make a difference. (Andrew Reid Antiquity)

Dr. Kusimba's book is very well-organized. The geography, resources, languages and peoples of the coast are described in detail. This book not only provides for a better understanding of the complex Swahili polities between 100 B.C. and the sixteenth century, but also lends itself to an appreciation of the relevance of the Swahili society and culture in East Africa today. (David S. Fick African Studies Quarterly, Vol 4, Issue 1)

As an archaeologist of African origin, he has combined his extensive knowledge of the Swahili language and culture with a meticulous research methodology to arrive at an original study from a perspective that that is primarily Africa-centered. In this regard, The Rise and Fall of Swahili States is indeed a pioneering work of inestimable value to Africa in its continuing quest to reclaim its history. (Alamin Mazrui Anthropos)

Dr. Kusimba's highly readable and stimulating book is very timely for all those interested in recent research and interpretation of Africa in later prehistoric and earlier historic times. Indeed, I would go further to propose that this book should be highly stimulating to those who work in other parts of the world, too. (Bernard Wailes)

An excellent summary of the archaeological data involving the emergence and unfolding of this captivating civilization through the first 1300 years. (Randall L. Pouwels Intl. Journal Of African Historical Studies)

Dr Kusimba of the Field Museum of Natural History engage most if not all of the major issues in the contemporary archaeology of the East African Coast, and the book is therefore a major contribution to the field.... The book succeeds in its goal to 'help unravel the myths' concerning the Swahili, and it provides a much-needed overview of the archaeology of the Swahili coast. It should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the history and archaeology of eastern Africa. (Thomas H. Wilson Journal Of African History)

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