People's Lovely Lazy Mood

The meeting of African and Arab culture, the arrival of European explorers and Indian merchants, the slow blending of style, language and traditions from around the Indian Ocean –all worked to create a beautiful way of life and a sumptuous way of living.

The following centuries were to see a cultural criss-cross of Arab-Islamic and Bantu traditions, resulting in the flourishing Swahili civilization (Swahili comes from Sahel, shore). Self-governed, rigid-hierarchy city-states were the most common form of civic organization where