The Swahili City States: Awesome Video Clip

Here is an excellent 10-minute clip about the Swahili city-states by Stefan Milo. He outlines the origin of the states and how they eventually adopted Islam. He notes three reasons: traders became familiar with Islam, some may have converted because it gave them protection from slavery, and finally it offered major political, legal, and commercial benefits.

A commercial advantage was that Islam gave Swahili a written alphabet. Milo notes that the states grew wealthy by facilitating and controlling trade between mainland Africa and Eurasia.