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Swahili, a Bantu language of East Africa, is one of the most widely spoken African languages. Originally spoken along the East African coast from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique, it is now used by about 80 million speakers as a language of wider communication in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the DRC and neighbouring countries. Swahili has an extensive literary tradition, and its written literature spans more than three centuries. 

 

This linguistic and literary history is preserved in several collections of Swahili manuscripts, the principal ones of which are found in archives and libraries in East Africa, Germany and in the UK. The Swahili manuscripts constitute a key element of African cultural heritage and an invaluable resource for the study of diachronic and geographic variation of Swahili, Swahili literary traditions, and of East African coastal history and culture. The Swahili coast, where most of the manuscripts originated, was since the 8th century part of the Indian Ocean network and trading was taking place between the Arabia peninsula and the Coast. These mercantile connections also developed cultural and religious links between the regions, and the Coast was Islamized from the 10th century. During the process of Islamization, a large body of religious literature and historical chronicles emerged, which are now preserved in the collections mentioned above.

 

SOAS archives house a substantive amount of Swahili manuscripts. The collection includes about 450 manuscripts dating from 1790 to the late 20th century. The SOAS manuscripts originate from the Swahili coast and island archipelagos, in particular from Kilwa, Lamu, Mombasa, Pate, Siu and Zanzibar. The earliest manuscripts were collected in 19th century Mombasa by the scholar and member of the Church Missionary Society William Taylor and subsequently by scholars, editors and academics (including JWT Allen, William Hitchen, Jan Knappert, Alice Werner, Wilfred Whiteley, and Sheikh Yahya Ali Omar). SOAS Library acquired its first Swahili manuscript in 1920 and has continued to acquire manuscripts whenever possible since.

 

Many of the manuscripts in the collection are written in Arabic script and many contain poetry composed in northern Swahili dialects. Letters, stories, notes, essays on history and culture, chronicles and historical documents as well as drafts of published and unpublished books are included in the collection. The majority of SOAS manuscripts have been catalogued and details of the holdings are available through an electronic Swahili manuscripts database created as part of a 31-months Leverhulme-funded project in 2004. The establishment of the on-line catalogue has led to a significant increase in interest in the collection, and to the increased need to provide wider access to it through the digitisation of the manuscripts.