This wide-ranging volume integrates documentary sources and contemporary archaeological evidence to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of Swahili history, anthropology, language and culture.

This series of Classics in African Anthropology is primarily drawn from a distinct family of texts which dominated the academic analysis of society in mid-20th century Africa. The texts reproduced are significant yet often neglected, and have stood the test of time. John Middleton's classic study on the Lugbara was originally published in 1960. New edition published in association with the International African Institute North America: Transaction Books; Germany: Lit Verlag

James de Vere Allen, who was curator at Lamu Museum, set out to give modern Swahili evidence of their shared history during a period of eight centuries.