Suku Shirazi

Suku Shirazi, juga dikenal dengan nama Mbwera, adalah kelompok etnis yang menghuni kawasan Pesisir Swahili dan kepulauan di sekitarnya. Mereka khususnya terkonsentrasi di pulau Zanzibar, Pemba dan kepulauan Komoro.Tanzania Ethnic Groups, East Africa Living Encyclopedia, accessed 28 June 2010 Mereka awalnya merupakan penghuni kepulauan Lamu yang bermigrasi ke selatan dan mengembangkan mitos bersama bahwa nenek moyang mereka berasal dari Shiraz dan pesisir barat daya Persia. Suku "Shirazi" dikenal karena telah membantu menyebarkan agama Islam di Pesisir Swahili dan juga akan peran mereka dalam mendirikan kesultanan-kesultanan lokal. Mereka juga telah memengaruhi perkembangan bahasa Swahili dan mereka dikenal akan kekayaan yang mereka peroleh dari perdagangan komoditas dan budak-budak Afrika yang berbahasa Bantu. Wilayah pesisir Afrima Timur dan kepulauan-kepulauan di sekitarnya merupakan pusat dagang mereka., 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 utlized 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"

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Kategori:Kelompok etnis di Kenya
Kategori:Kelompok etnis di Tanzania