East Africa: Swahili

During my time in Swahili, I learned so much about the

history of this country. Up until 1498 CE, the country
was under the control of the Shirazi Dynasty. The
language of this country was very hard for me to
grasp. This was because the Swahili language is a
combination of Bantu languages as well as Arabic
languages. This is due to the Bantu descendants of
this land merging their languages with Arabic traders.
Trading in Swahili is a very significant event. The
country trades with many places like Persia, China,
India, and Arabic countries. Due to all of this
trading between the areas, lots of different cultures
can be found in Swahili.
Central Africa: Congo

While I was visiting the Congo, I learned that in the

year of 1390 CE, a man named Lukeni Iua Nimi had
combined a number of the lands that he had power over
and became the first ruler of the Kongo, the term for
this being Manikongo​. ​The Kongo was a prominent empire
of this time and would continuously be for as long as
the 17th century. The country of Congo includes
aspects of both the Bantu people and the Portuguese,
as the native people are a combination of both. The
Congo was comprised of mainly Bantu at first, however,
they had then adopted Christianity and the language of
Portuguese when people from Portugal had arrived in
1480 CE. The people of Kongo have always had an
affinity towards mining and farming. In the past, they
had mainly mined gold, copper, and iron. The people
had also became very well versed in the trading of
salts, ceramic items, and textiles.
Southern Africa: Great Zimbabwe

While I was in South Africa, I visited Great Zimbabwe.

I learned that at first, the land was under the power
of an elite group. Their rule only was active during
the 11th through 15th centuries. The people of this
country were very reliant on their own agriculture as
well as trading with other countries. Great Zimbabwe
then went on to become very apt in stonework for
architecture as well as the creation of pottery. There
is also a very large gold trading industry in Great
Zimbabwe. After finding this out, I did some research
and apparently, Great Zimbabwe became the center of
the trading of gold in Africa in 1350 BCE!