The Unsung African Pioneers

The Unsung African Pioneers: The Nairobi Swahili-Speaking Community: 1885-1970 looks at the social history of the Swahili-Speaking community in Nairobi Kenya from the inception of British rule in Kenya to seven years after Independence. The Swahili?speaking community of Nairobi has a rich social history that traces its roots not only in Kenya but many parts of eastern and central Africa. Through survival social interaction and religious practices men and women from diverse ethnic backgrounds were able to mould through time into a common Swahili culture and Islam as a religion. The influences were many and varied in degrees but those of the Barawa Bajuni Digo from the Mrima coast of Tanganyika Nyamwezi Manyema Kamba Kalenjin and Kikuyu were dominant. Each of these groups contributed something to the new Swahili culture that emerged in Nairobi throughout the last two centuries.Islam became the main pillar of focus and it was around it that life revolved bonds were established and gave a sense of communal culture and values.