Swahili language, member of the Bantu group of African languages (see African languages and Bantu languages). Swahili is spoken by 30 million people, chiefly in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (Kinshas...

Ujiji, municipality, Kigoma prov., W Tanzania, suburb of Kigoma city, on Lake Tanganyika. Ujiji was an important settlement of Arab and Swahili ivory and slave traders between c.1850 and c.189...

Bantu languages, group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages). Bantu ...

Kigoma, municipality, capital of Kigoma prov., W Tanzania, a port on Lake Tanganyika. It is the terminus of the railroad from Dar-es-Salaam (completed 1914) and is connected by ship with Congo...

Lingua franca, an auxiliary language, generally of a hybrid and partially developed nature, that is employed over an extensive area by people speaking different and mutually unintelligible ton...

Bantu, ethnic and linguistic group of Africa, numbering about 120 million. The Bantu inhabit most of the continent S of the Congo River except the extreme southwest. The classification is prim...

Mayotte, island (2005 est. pop. 194,000), 144 sq mi (374 sq km), French departmental collectivity, Indian Ocean, in the Comoro chain. Mamoudzou is the capital and largest city. The land is gen...

Mwanamutapa, former state, SE Africa. The Mwanamutapa empire, headed by a ruler of the same name, was founded c.1420 among the Karanga people (a subgroup of the Bantu-speaking Shona) and was c...

Islam in Africa, the development of the Muslim religion on the African continent.During Muhammad's lifetime a group of Muslims escaped Meccan persecution (615) by fleeing to Ethiopia, where th...

Arabic languages, members of the West Semitic group of the Semitic subdivision of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). The Arabic languages comprise North Arabic (o...