Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

Medieval Swahili people had both African and Asian ancestry

Analyses of ancient DNA from 80 individuals buried in medieval Swahili stone towns along the East African coast revealed that these individuals had both African and Asian ancestry. The findings suggest that in most cases, African women began having children with Asian men at least 1,000 years ago, at several locations along the coast.

This is a summary of: Brielle, E. S. et al. Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast. Nature 615, 866–873 (2023).

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00302-y

‘Expert opinion’ and the figure are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

References

  1. Chittick, N. Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Horton, M. C. in Changing Social Identity with the Spread of Islam (ed. Whitcomb, D.) 67–88 (The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mazrui, A. M. & Shariff, I. N. The Swahili: Idiom and Identity of an African People (Africa World, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Middleton, J. African Merchants of the Indian Ocean: Swahili of the East African Coast (Waveland, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kusimba, C. M., Kusimba, S. B. & Dussubieux, L. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 30, 399–426 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links