Arab Migrations to East Africa in Medieval Times

In the following paper I attempt to indicate some details of Arab migrations to East Africa (and a few to Indonesia) in medieval times. Most originated in Hadramawt, although some came from Yaman, and in these cases the migrants were members of clerical clans, descendants of the Prophet; thus they were a special sort of migrant.1 The clans I have tried to trace departed their homelands from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and they are not very far removed in time. All the same, they demonstrate a number of points typical of seaborne movement, colonization, and settlement by Muslims in East Africa over a very long period in the past. Many Arabs migrated because of demographic pressures at home, a bad climate, famines and floods, or political upheavals. Abroad they aimed for high religious and juridical posts, trying to garner good situations for themselves through marital alliances. Frequently they played for high stakes by creating, enlarging, or taking over political structures in the places where they settled.2