Shirazi people

Coordinates: 4°32′S 39°25′E / 4.533°S 39.417°EThe Shirazi are a sub-group of the Swahili people^[1] living on the Swahili Coast of East Africa, especially on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Comoros.^[2] Local traditions about their origin claim they are descended from merchant princes from Shiraz in Persia who settled along the Swahili Coast. However some academics are skeptical of the claimed Persian origin.^[3][4] There are several different traditions about the settlement of the Persian merchant-princes in seven towns along the Swahili Coast.^[5]

Like the rest of the Swahili people, the Shirazi speak the Swahili language and practice Sunni Islam and Shia Islam.^[6]

Several ruins of settlements in Tanzania are attributed to the settlements of the Shirazi era, including the Tongoni and Kaole Ruins, as well as those found on Tumbatu and Pemba islands.

See also

• Shirazi era
• Shirazi, Kenya
• Afro-Shirazi Party
• Kilwa Sultanate
• Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman
• Tongoni Ruins
• Kizimkazi Mosque
• Tumbatu
• Zanj Empire

Notes

1. Kilwa chronicle
2. Tanzania Ethnic Groups, East Africa Living Encyclopedia, accessed 28 June 2010
3. Horton & Middleton 2000: 20
4. Bakari 2001: 70
5. Horton & Middleton 2000: 52
6. Nimtz 1980: 4

References

• Allen, James De Vere (1993). Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon. James Currey Publishers.
• Bakari, Mohammed Ali (2001). The Democratisation Process in Zanzibar: A Retarded Transition. GIGA-Hamburg.
• Chittick, Neville (1965). "The ‘Shirazi’ Colonization of East Africa". Journal of African History (Cambridge University Press) 6 (3): 275–294. doi:10.1017/S0021853700005806. JSTOR 180168.
• Horton, Mark; Middleton, John (2000). The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Nimtz, August H. (1980). Islam and Politics in East Africa: The Sufi Order in Tanzania. University of Minnesota Press.
• Pouwels, Randall L. (1984). "Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast". History in Africa (African Studies Association) 11: 237–267. doi:10.2307/3171636. JSTOR 3171636.
• Pouwels, Randall L. (2002). Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African Coast, 800-1900. Cambridge University Press.
• Sheriff, Abdul; Tominaga, Chizuko (1990). "The Ambiguity of Shirazi Ethnicity in the History and Politics of Zanzibar". Christianity and Culture (Sendai) 24: 1–37.
• Spear, Thomas (1984). "The Shirazi in Swahili Traditions, Culture, and History". History in Africa (African Studies Association) 11: 291–305. doi:10.2307/3171638. JSTOR 3171638.