Shirazi people

This article is about an African ethnic group. For coastal town in south Kenya, see Shirazi, Kenya. For the people of Shiraz, Iran, see Shiraz § Demographics.

Shirazi people
Regions with significant populations
Swahili coast (mainly Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, Comoros)[1]
Languages
Swahili varieties, English, French
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam[2]
Related ethnic groups
Swahili people, Afro-Iranians

The Shirazi people, also known as Mbwera, are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the Swahili coast and the nearby Indian ocean islands.[3] They are particularly concentrated on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Comoros.[1][3]

A number of Shirazi legends proliferated along the East African coast, most involving a named or unnamed Persian prince marrying a Swahili princess. Modern academics reject the authenticity of the primarily Persian origin claim, although recent genetic evidence points towards noticeable Persian admixture.[4][5][6] They point to the relative rarity of Persian customs and speech, lack of documentary evidence of Shia Islam in the Muslim literature on the Swahili Coast, and instead a historic abundance of Sunni Arab-related evidence.[7] The documentary evidence, like the archaeological, "for early Persian settlement is likewise completely lacking".[8]

The Shirazi are notable for helping spread Islam on the Swahili Coast, their role in the establishment of the southern Swahili sultanates like Mozambique and Angoche, their influence in the development of the Swahili language, and their opulent wealth.[9][10][11] The East African coastal area and the nearby islands served as their commercial base.[3][12][13][note 1]

  1. ^ a b Tanzania Ethnic Groups, East Africa Living Encyclopedia, accessed 28 June 2010
  2. ^ Shirazi and Arabs of Zanzibar. "Shirazi and Arabs of Zanzibar - Minority Rights Group". Minorityrights.org. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Ari Nave (2010). Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (eds.). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-19-533770-9. Most scholars, however, believe that the Shirazi actually began their settlement of the East African coast in the twelfth century and that they originated in Somalia. Shirazi established themselves on the following islands: Lamu Kenya, Pemba Zanzibar, Mafia and Kilqa Kiswani all in Tanzania and Comoros. (...) Known for their mercantile skills, the Shirazi asserted themselves as ruling elites as early as the twelfth century on the islands that were their base. Trade in gold, ivory and slaves brought prosperity to the Shirazi
  4. ^ Brielle, Esther S.; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Sirak, Kendra; Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen; Callan, Kim; Curtis, Elizabeth; Iliev, Lora; Lawson, Ann Marie; Oppenheimer, Jonas; Qiu, Lijun; Stewardson, Kristin; Workman, J. Noah; Zalzala, Fatma; Ayodo, George (March 2023). "Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast". Nature. 615 (7954): 866–873. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05754-w. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 10060156.
  5. ^ Horton & Middleton 2000: 20
  6. ^ Bakari 2001: 70
  7. ^ J. De V. ALLEN (1982), The Shirazi problem in East African coastal history, Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Bd. 28, FROM ZINJ TO ZANZIBAR: Studies in History, Trade and Society on the Eastern Coast of Africa (1982), pages 9-27
  8. ^ Allen, J. The Shirazi problem in East African coastal History." Frobenius Institute. 1983. Page 9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41409871
  9. ^ Horton, Mark and Middleton, John. "The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society." Wiley-Blackwell. 2001.
  10. ^ Glassman, Jonathan. "Feasts and Riot: Revelry, Rebellion, & Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856-1888." Heinemann. 1996.
  11. ^ Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette. "The Swahili World." Routledge. 2018
  12. ^ August H. Nimtz (1980). Islam and Politics in East Africa. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 3–11, 30–33, 39–47. ISBN 978-0-8166-0963-5., Quote: "The Shirazi were classified as native, that is, Africans, and this they were of low status. Prior to the colonial era, the Shirazi and Arabs saw themselves, for the most part, as one community. (...) Unlike the previous periods in which African captives were usually taken to Persian Gulf areas to work primarily as domestic laborers, by the nineteenth century, most slaves were being utilized on the vast clove and plantations on the East African coast and offshore islands. (...) Arab rule, from this period until its demise at the hands of the European powers, became virtually synonymous with slavery and slave ownership." (...) "Though Shirazi ownership of slaves was never as extensive as the Arabs, slaves were a major source of their wealth"
  13. ^ Per O. Hernæs; Tore Iversen, eds. (2002). Slavery Across Time and Space: Studies in Slavery in Medieval Europe and Africa. University of Virginia. p. 23. ISBN 8277650418. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  14. ^ Alexander Mikaberidze (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 969. ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1. the Bantu-speaking peoples of East Africa were called the Zanj and blacks from south of the Sahara were called al-Aswad
  15. ^ Ronald Segal (2002). Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora. Macmillan. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-374-52797-6., Quote: "As early as the late seventh century, black slaves known as the Zanj, associated with people from the East African coast, were put to agricultural work in a region that encompassed part of western Persia but mainly southern Iraq."


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