This area was known to the Arabs as bilad al Zanj, to the Persians as Zanjibar, and the Chinese as Tsengtan, all meaning 'the land of the black people'. The people would be called 'Swahili' from the Arabic word 'Sawahil' meaning 'people of the coasts'.
The name would also be used to name the area as the Swahili coast, and the language as Kiswahili. The Kiswahili language emerged in around 600 AD, as a trading language, and has thereby borrowed heavily from Persian, Arabic and Hindi in addition to the bantu languages that form the proto swahili language. Basically Kiswahili originated from along the entire coast of east Africa.
Currently Kiswahili language is understood and spoken in many countries across East, Central and Southern Africa.
Bantu Africa Diary
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