Swahili Synoecism: Rural Settlements and Town Formation on the Central East African Coast, AD 750-1500

Archaeological survey in 1999-2000 in the northern part of Pemba Island, Tanzania, has revealed the role of rural settlements in the development of Swahili towns from A. D. 750 to 1500. The survey investigated the regions directly surrounding three towns to explore the political, economic, and religious relations between towns and surrounding villages. Results of the survey suggest that the growth of Pemban towns, although economically influenced by their increasing links to overseas trade, were dependent on population movements from rural to urban areas. These shifts may be best described as a "synoecism," a process in which a town is formed through the union of smaller, rural settlements. The data indicate a dramatic reorganization of the settlement pattern during the 11th century when new towns with monumental mosques made of coral were founded and/or populated by migrants from the countryside, leaving a sparsely populated region with only a few villages that were loosely tied to the center. The construction of Swahili towns on Pemba was as much an effort to construct a cohesive community as it was a practical measure in a burgeoning Indian Ocean economy.