The Swahili people ( Swahili : Waswahili , وَسوَحِيلِ) comprise mainly Bantu , Afro-Arab , and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast , an area encompassing the Zanzibar archipelago and mainland Tanzania's seaboard, littoral Kenya , northern Mozambique , the Comoros Islands , and northwest Madagascar .
64-509: [REDACTED] Look up gosha in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Gosha may refer to: Somali Bantu Hideo Gosha , Japanese film director Five Chariots , Chinese constellation Gosha woman , women kept in purdah in southern India Gosha, the diminutive form of the Russian given name Georgy "Gosha", a 2018 song by Snot Gosha,
128-557: A white supremacist group demonstrated in support of the mayor's letter, which prompted a counter-demonstration of about 4,000 people at Bates College , as chronicled in documentary film The Letter . Despite such adversity, the Somali Bantu community in central Maine has continued to flourish and integrate in years since. Prior to the United States' agreement to accommodate Bantu refugees from Somalia, attempts were made to resettle
192-599: A fictional character in the 2019 Indian animated series Chacha Chaudhary See also [ edit ] Gosh (disambiguation) Ghosh , an Indian surname Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Gosha . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gosha&oldid=1221057384 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
256-410: A great amount of hostility from local Lewiston residents. In 2002, former Mayor Laurier Raymond wrote an open letter to Somali Bantu residents in an effort to dissuade them from further relocation to Lewiston . He proclaimed their resettlement to the town had become a "burden" on the community and predicted an overall negative impact on the town's social services and resources. In 2003, members of
320-745: A lack of resources and potential political instability in the region where the Bantu might have been resettled. By the late 2000s, the situation in Tanzania had improved, and the Tanzanian government began granting Bantus citizenship and allocating them land in areas of Tanzania where their ancestors are known to have been taken from as slaves. General: In the U.S.: Swahili people The original Swahili distinguished themselves from other Bantu peoples by self-identifying as Waungwana (the civilised ones). In certain regions (e.g., Lamu Island ), this differentiation
384-467: A new name for Somalia's ethnically Bantu minorities. Prior to the civil war, the Bantu were referred to in the literature as Bantu , Gosha , Mushunguli , Oggi and especially as Jareer , which they still, in fact, are within Somalia proper. Between 2500–3000 years ago, speakers of the original proto- Bantu language group began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their original homeland in
448-458: A patient to soak a piece of paper containing verses of the Qur'an in water. With this ink infused water, literally containing the word of Allah , the patient will then wash his body or drink it to cure himself of his affliction. The only people permitted to become medicine men in the culture are prophets and teachers of Islam. There are also Swahili that practiced Christianity . The Swahili language
512-520: A unified group of communities that developed into the first centre of coastal maritime culture. The coastal towns appear to have been engaged in Indian Ocean trade at this early period, and trade rapidly increased in importance and quantity between the mid-8th and the 11th century. A local 15th genealogy, the Kilwa Chronicle , identifies the rulers and founders of the costal cities as immigrants from
576-555: Is mutually intelligible with the Zigula language still spoken in Tanzania. Mushunguli's closest sister languages are Shambala , Bondei , and Ngulu which are languages originating from Tanzania and largely confined to it. The Indian Ocean slave trade was multi-directional and changed over time. To meet the demand for menial labor, black Africans from southeastern Africa bought by Somali , Omanis , Benadiri & Swahili slave traders & were sold in cumulatively large numbers over
640-579: Is a term taken from Mzigula , the Zigua tribe's word for "people" (the word holds multiple implied meanings including "worker", "foreigner", and "slave"). Bantu slaves were made to work in plantations owned by Somalis along the Shebelle and Jubba rivers, harvesting lucrative cash crops such as grain and cotton. Since the very end of the eighteen century, fugitive slaves from the Shebelle valley began to settle in
704-642: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Somali Bantu The Somali Bantus (also known as Jareerweyne or Gosha ) are a Bantu ethnic minority group in Somalia who primarily reside in the southern part of the country, primarily near the Jubba and Shabelle rivers. The Somali Bantus are descendants of enslaved peoples from various Bantu ethnic groups from Southeast Africa , particularly from Mozambique , Malawi , and Tanzania . The East African slave trade
SECTION 10
#1733094303970768-498: Is even more stratified in terms of societal grouping and dialect, hinting to the historical processes by which the Swahili have coalesced over time. More recently, however, through a process of Swahilization , this identity is extended to any person of African descent who speaks Swahili as their first language, is Muslim , and lives in a town on the main urban centres of most of modern-day Tanzania and coastal Kenya, northern Mozambique, or
832-505: Is likewise completely lacking.". The most likely origin for the stories about the Shirazi is from Muslim inhabitants of the Lamu archipelago who moved south in the 10th and 11th centuries. They brought with them a coinage tradition and localized form of Islam. These Africans migrants seem to have developed a concept of Shirazi origin as they moved further southwards, near Malindi and Mombasa , along
896-727: Is the native tongue, and it is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo family. Its closest relatives include Comorian spoken on the Comoros Islands and the Mijikenda language of the Mijikenda people in Kenya. With its original speech community centred on Zanzibar and the coastal parts of Kenya and Tanzania , collectively a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast , Swahili became
960-649: The Arab world . Marginalized Black African ethnic minorities with an ethnogenesis in slavery can be found in nearby countries such as the Al Akhdam ethnic minority in Yemen paralleling social dynamics in Somalia. Alternative theories suggest that some Somali Bantu tribes migrated to the riverine parts of the southern Horn of Africa as agriculturalists taking part in the millennia long ongoing Bantu expansion . However, no reliable historical documentation exists directly linking
1024-608: The Indian Ocean slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula . Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. Fish is sold to their inland neighbours in exchange for products of the interior. Although most Swahili living standards are far below that of upper hierarchy of the wealthiest nations, the Swahili are generally considered a relatively economically powerful group due to their history of trade. They are comparatively well-off. For instance,
1088-758: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) moved a large number of Bantu refugees 1500 km to Kakuma in northwest Kenya because it was safer to process them for resettlement farther away from the Somali border. In 1999, the United States classified the Bantu refugees from Somalia as a priority and the United States Department of State first began what has been described as the most ambitious resettlement plan ever from Africa, with thousands of Bantus scheduled for resettlement in America. In 2003,
1152-607: The Shebelle region, while Bantu linguistic and cultural traditions tend to be stronger in Somali Bantus of the Juba region. Politically, the Somali Bantu of different tribes form ethnic alliances in the parliament of Somalia. The Somali Bantu are not to be confused with the members of Swahili society of Somalia in coastal centers, such as the Bajuni or the Bravanese , who speak dialects of
1216-508: The Swahili language but have a culture, tradition, and history separate of the Somali Bantu. The number of Somali Bantu in Somalia is estimated to be around 900,000 persons and is mainly concentrated in the south, but they can be found in urban areas throughout the country. Although ref world minority rights website cites a figure of 1 million Somali Bantus in Somalia who made up 15% of the population in an article published in 2011 and taken from
1280-541: The "Shirazi" were not Middle Eastern immigrants, but northern Swahili Muslims. They moved south, founding mosques, introducing coinage and elaborately carved inscriptions and mihrabs. They should be interpreted as indigenous African Muslims who played the politics of the Middle East to their advantage. Some still use this foundation myth a millennium later to assert their authority, even though the myth's context has long been forgotten. The Shirazi legend took on new importance in
1344-424: The 19th century, during the period of Omani domination. Claims of Shirazi ancestry were used to distance locals from Arab newcomers, since Persians are not viewed as Arabs but still have an exemplary Islamic pedigree. The emphasis that the Shirazi came very long ago and intermarried with indigenous locals ties this claim to the creation of convincing indigenous narratives about Swahili heritage without divorcing it from
SECTION 20
#17330943039701408-801: The Bantu in smaller towns, such as Holyoke, Massachusetts and Cayce, South Carolina , were scrapped after local protests. There are also communities of several hundred to a thousand Bantu people in cities that also have high concentrations of ethnic Somalis such as the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Columbus, Ohio , Atlanta , San Diego , Boston , Pittsburgh , and Seattle , with a notable presence of about 1,000 Bantus in Lewiston, Maine . Making Refuge follows Somali Bantus' strenuous journey towards eventual resettlement in Lewiston and details several families' stories of relocating there. Upon their resettlement in Lewiston , however, Bantus were met with
1472-771: The Comoros. The name Swahili originated as an exonym for the language derived from Arabic : سواحل , romanized : Sawāhil , lit. 'coasts', with Waungwana as the endonym . Swahili people speak the Swahili language . Modern Standard Swahili is derived from the Kiunguja dialect of Zanzibar. Like many other world languages, Swahili has borrowed a large number of words from foreign languages, particularly administrative terms from Arabic , but also words from Portuguese , Persian , Hindi , Spanish , English and German . Other, older dialects like Kimrima and Kitumbatu have far fewer Arabic loanwords, indicative of
1536-638: The Indian Ocean. The Swahili have played a vital role as middle man between southeast, central, and South Africa and to the outside world. Trade contacts have been noted as early as 100 CE by early Roman writers who visited the Southeast African coast in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Trade routes extended from Kenya to Tanzania into modern day Congo , along which goods were brought to the coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders. Historical and archaeological records attest to Swahilis being prolific maritime merchants and sailors who sailed
1600-740: The Jubba valley. By the late 1890s, when Italians and British occupied the Jubaland area, an estimated 35,000 former Bantu slaves were already settled there. The Italian colonial administration abolished slavery in Somalia at the turn of the 20th century by decree of the King of Italy. Some Bantu groups, however, remained enslaved until the 1910s in the areas not totally dominated by the Italians, and continued to be despised and discriminated against by large parts of Somali society. After World War I , many Somali Bantus, mainly
1664-537: The Mrima coast. The longstanding trade connections with the Persian gulf gave credence to these myths. In addition, because most Muslim societies are patrilineal, one can claim distant identities through paternal lines despite phenotypic and somatic evidence to the contrary. The so-called Shirazi tradition represents the arrival of Islam in these eras, one reason it has proven so long lasting. Extant mosques and coins demonstrate that
1728-451: The Persian city of Shirazi , in the 11th century. This forms the basis of the Shirazi era origin myth that proliferated along the coast at the turn of the millennium. A 2022 DNA study obtained samples from 80 Muslim graves, from cities across the region, found the maternal ancestry of the studied population was primarily of East African lineages, principally Bantu and Pastoral Neolithic, while
1792-695: The Somalis consider them different. One of the Bantu customs still observed by Gosha people is the Gulu Nkulu ("Great Dance") of the Yao in Mozambique and Malawi. All told, there has been very little co-mingling between Somali Bantus and Somalis. Formal intermarriage is extremely rare, and typically results in ostracism the few times it does occur. During the Somali Civil War , many Bantu were forced from their lands in
1856-562: The Somalis from Mogadishu called them with a discriminatory word all together Mushunguli . Unlike Somalis , most of whom are traditionally nomadic herders , Somali Bantus are mainly sedentary subsistence farmers . The Somali Bantus' predominant " Negroid " physical traits also serve to further distinguish them from Somalis. Among these phenotypic characteristics of the Bantu are kinky ( jareer ) hair, while Somalis are soft-haired ( jilec ). The majority of Somali Bantus have converted to Islam , which they first began embracing. Starting in
1920-587: The Somalis' indigenous patrilineal clan system of social stratification. These Bantus are referred to by the Somalis as sheegato or sheegad (literally "pretenders" ), meaning they are not ethnically Somali and are attached to a Somali group on an adoptive, client basis. Somali Bantus that have retained their ancestral southeast African traditions have likewise been known to level sarcasm at other Bantus who have tried to associate themselves with their Somali patrons, albeit without any real animosity (the civil war has actually served to strengthen relationships between
1984-493: The Southeast African coast around the 9th century, coincident to Bantu traders both settling on the coast and tapping into the Indian Ocean trade networks. The Swahili people follow the Sunni denomination of Islam. Large numbers of Swahili undertake the Hajj and Umrah from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique. Traditional Islamic dress such as the jilbab and thob are also popular among
Gosha - Misplaced Pages Continue
2048-566: The Southeast African coastline to lands as far away as Arabia , Persia , Madagascar , India , and China . Chinese pottery and Arabian beads have been found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe . During the apogee of the Middle Ages, ivory and slaves became a substantial source of revenue. Captives sold via the Zanzibar slave trade by Arab slave traders ended up in Portuguese Brazil or via
2112-452: The Swahili origin myth, indicating that "Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men." The modern Swahili people speak the Swahili language as a mother tongue, which belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo family. The language contains loan words from Arabic . Islam established its presence on
2176-533: The Swahili. The Swahili also are known for their use of divination, which has adopted some syncretic features from underlying traditional indigenous beliefs. For instance, they believe in djinn , and many men wear protective amulets featuring verses from the Qu'ran. Divination is practiced through Qur'anic readings. Often the diviner incorporates verses from the Qur'an into treatments for certain diseases. On occasion, he instructs
2240-467: The UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) in 2010. Various terms differentiating the Somali Bantu from ethnic Somalis have been in usage for a long time. However, the term "Somali Bantu" in specific is an ethnonym that was created by humanitarian agencies shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in 1991. Its purpose was to help staff of these aid agencies better distinguish between, on
2304-608: The United Nations has stated that the island of Zanzibar has a 25% higher per capita GDP than the rest of Tanzania. This economic influence has led to the continued spread of their culture and language throughout East Africa. Thought by many early scholars to be essentially of Arabic or Persian style and origin, some contemporary academics are suggesting that archaeological, written, linguistic, and cultural evidence might suggest an African genesis which would be accompanied only later by an enduring Arabic and Islamic influences in
2368-455: The United States. There are many different Somali Bantu clans such as the Majindo, Makua, Malima, Mayasa, Mayao, Kiziguas, Kabole, Shabelle, Shiidle, Makane, Hintire, Eeyle, Sedah Omar, Digil Afaaf and Mirifle Afaaf, Biimaal Afaaf, and Some Moobleen. which all contain clans and subclans. Assimilation into mainstream Somali society tends to be stronger for Somali Bantus living in urban areas and
2432-461: The Waswahili themselves. Citation: The Swahili people originate from Bantu inhabitants of the coast of Southeast Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. These Bantu-speaking agriculturalists settled the coast at the outset of the first millennium. Archaeological finds at Fukuchani, on the north-west coast of Zanzibar, indicate a settled agricultural and fishing community from the 6th century CE at
2496-650: The anti-slavery activist and explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti informed the Italian public about the local slave trade and the indifferent attitude of the first Italian colonial government in Somalia toward it. Somali Bantus simply refer to themselves as Bantu . Those who can trace their origins to Bantu groups in southeast Africa refer to themselves collectively as Shanbara , Shangama or Wagosha . Those who trace their origins to Bantu tribes inhabiting areas further south call themselves Zigula , Makua , Yao , Nyassa , Ngindo , Nyamwezi , Mwera and other names, although
2560-499: The area, the earlier occupants had been displaced by incoming Bantu and Nilotic populations. More people from different parts of the Persian Gulf also continued to migrate to the Swahili coast over several centuries thereafter, and these formed the modern Shirazi. The second theory on Shirazi origins also posits that they came from Persia, but first settled in the Horn of Africa . In
2624-676: The centuries to customers in Morocco , Libya , Somalia , Egypt , Arabia , the Persian Gulf , India , the Far East and the Indian Ocean islands . From 1800 to 1890, between 25,000–50,000 black African slaves are thought to have been sold from the slave market of Zanzibar to the Somali coast. Most of the slaves were taken from the Majindo , Makua , Nyasa , Yao , Zaramo and Zigua ethnic groups of Tanzania , Mozambique , and Malawi . Collectively, these Bantu groups are known as Mushunguli , which
Gosha - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-607: The colonial period, some also began converting to Christianity . However, whether Muslim or Christian , many Bantu have retained their ancestral animist traditions, including the practice of possession dances and the use of magic . Many of these religious traditions closely resemble those practised in Tanzania , similarities which also extend to hunting, harvesting and music, among other things. Many Somali Bantus have also retained their ancestral social structures, with their Bantu tribe of origin in southeastern Africa serving as
2752-492: The descendants of former slaves, became Catholics. They were principally concentrated in the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi and Genale plantations. Indeed, in 1895, the first 45 Bantu slaves were freed by the Italian colonial authorities under the administration of the chartered Catholic company Filonardi . The former were later converted to Catholicism. Massive emancipation and conversion of slaves in Somalia only began after
2816-501: The first Bantu immigrants began to arrive in U.S. cities, and by 2007, around 13,000 had been resettled to cities throughout the United States with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.S. State Department, and refugee resettlement agencies across the country. Among the resettlement destinations, it is known that Salt Lake City, Utah received about 1,000 Bantus. Other cities in
2880-415: The form of trade and an exchange of ideas. Upon visiting Kilwa in 1331, the great Berber explorer Ibn Battuta was impressed by the substantial beauty that he encountered there. He describes its inhabitants as "Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces", and notes that "Kilwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and all its buildings are of wood" (his description of Mombasa
2944-534: The general Nigeria and Cameroon area of West Africa . This Bantu expansion first introduced Bantu peoples to central , southern and southeastern Africa , regions where they had previously been absent from. The Somali Bantu largely trace their origins from the Somali slave trade (sometimes also referred to as the ' Arab ' or ' Indian Ocean ' slave trade). This was a centuries long trade which brought Southeast African populations to Somalia and other parts of
3008-461: The ideals of being a maritime-centred culture. There are two main theories about the origins of the Shirazi subgroup of the Swahili people. One thesis based on oral tradition states that immigrants from the Shiraz region in southwestern Iran directly settled various mainland ports and islands on the eastern Africa seaboard beginning in the tenth century. By the time of the Persian settlement in
3072-460: The language's fundamental Bantu nature. Kiswahili served as coastal East Africa's lingua franca and trade language from the ninth century onward. Zanzibari traders' intensive push into the African interior from the late eighteenth century induced the adoption of Swahili as a common language throughout much of East Africa . Thus, Kiswahili is the most spoken African language, used by far more than just
3136-494: The latest. The considerable amount of daub found indicates timber buildings, and shell beads, bead grinders, and iron slag have been found at the site. There is evidence for limited engagement in long-distance trade: a small amount of imported pottery has been found, less than 1% of total pottery finds, mostly from the Gulf and dated to the 5th to 8th century. The similarity to contemporary sites such as Mkokotoni and Dar es Salaam indicate
3200-547: The lower Juba River valley, as militiamen from various Somali clans took control of the area. Being visible minorities and possessing little in the way of firearms, the Bantu were particularly vulnerable to violence and looting by gun-toting militiamen. To escape war and famine, tens of thousands of Bantus fled to refugee camps like Dadaab in neighboring Kenya , with most vowing never to return to Somalia. In 1991, 12,000 Bantu people were displaced into Kenya, and nearly 3,300 were estimated to have returned to Tanzania. In 2002,
3264-400: The main mosques. Before 1500 CE, the inhabitants carried both African, as well as Asia/Near East ancestry, which was mainly Persian-related (with more than half of their DNA originating from African ancestors and another large proportion of DNA coming from Asian ancestors). The male ancestors of elite Swahili people were a mix of approximately 83% Asian and 17% African; about 90% of the Asian DNA
SECTION 50
#17330943039703328-534: The majority of the male heritage was Asian. Some academics reject the authenticity of the primarily Persian origin claim. They point to the relative rarity of Persian customs and speech, lack of documentary evidence of Shia Islam in the Muslim literature on the Swahili Coast, and instead a historic abundance of Sunni Arab -related evidence. The documentary evidence, like the archaeological, "for early Persian settlement
3392-455: The one hand, Bantu origin ethnic minority groups hailing from Southern Somalia and thus in dire need of humanitarian attention and on the other hand, versus other Bantu groups from elsewhere in Africa that did not require immediate humanitarian assistance. The neologism further spread through the media, which repeated verbatim what the aid agencies' increasingly began indicating in their reports as
3456-530: The other hand, the Bantus who spoke kizigula had already started arriving in Tanzania since before the war due to discrimination experienced in Somalia. Mozambique , the other ancestral home of the Bantu, then emerged as an alternative point of resettlement. However, as it became clear that the United States was prepared to accommodate the Bantu refugees, the Mozambican government soon backed out on its promises, citing
3520-415: The present-day Somali Bantu to the premodern civilizations of Somalia. Medieval travellers visiting Southern Somalia at the time described its inhabitants as being mostly ethnically similar to the inhabitants of Northern Somalia and made no ethnic distinctions besides noting the presence of Arab , Persian , and Indian traders. The Mushunguli language is the sole surviving Somali Bantu language and
3584-531: The principal form of social stratification . Smaller units of societal organization are divided according to matrilineal kinship groups, the latter of which are often interchangeable with ceremonial dance groupings. Meanwhile, they do maintain some traditions of their own, such as the common act of basket weaving. Another important cultural aspect of the Bantu people consists art using bright colors and fabrics. Primarily for security reasons, some Somali Bantus have attempted to attach themselves to groups within
3648-399: The refugees to their ancestral homes in southeastern Africa. Before the prospect of emigrating to America was raised, this was actually the preference of the Bantus themselves. In fact, many Bantus voluntarily left the UN camps where they were staying, to seek refuge in Tanzania . Such a return to their ancestral homeland represented the fulfillment of a two-century old dream. While Tanzania
3712-503: The southwest such as Denver, Colorado , San Antonio, Texas , and Tucson, Arizona have received a few thousand as well. In New England , Manchester, New Hampshire and Burlington, Vermont were also destinations selected for resettlement of several hundred. The documentary film Rain in a Dry Land chronicles this journey, with stories of Bantu refugees resettled in Springfield, Massachusetts and Atlanta , Georgia. Plans to resettle
3776-505: The tongue of the urban class in the African Great Lakes region and eventually went on to serve as a lingua franca during the post-colonial period. In 2022, DNA was extracted, analyzed and compared in 80 samples taken from people buried between 1250 and 1800 CE in towns that were mostly along the Swahili Coast in modern Kenya and Tanzania. It is believed that these people were Swahili elites because they were buried in cemeteries near
3840-519: The twelfth century, as the gold trade with the distant entrepot of Sofala on the Mozambique seaboard grew, the settlers are then said to moved southwards to various coastal towns in Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands . By 1200 CE, they had established local sultanates and mercantile networks on the islands of Kilwa , Mafia and Comoros along the Swahili coast, and in northwestern Madagascar . More recent studies support
3904-480: The various Bantu sub-groups). Most Gosha gradually accepted Islam in the early decades of the 20th Century. Most Somali Bantus now consider themselves members of Somali Digil or Rahanweyn clans. However, marriage patterns still tend to follow the original ethnic lines of the various original Bantu groups. This has perpetuated the non-Somali physical characteristics of the Jubba Valley farmers. Because of this
SECTION 60
#17330943039703968-407: Was Persian, and the rest was Indian. The female ancestors of Swahili elites were about 97% African and 3% Asian. This is consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle . After this time, Arabian ancestry becomes more prevalent, which correlates with the archaeological and historical record of interactions with Southern Arabia ( Oman ). For centuries the Swahili depended greatly on trade from
4032-461: Was initially willing to grant the Bantus asylum, the UNCHR did not provide any financial or logistical guarantees to support the resettlement and integration of the refugees into Tanzania. The Tanzanian authorities also experienced additional pressure when refugees from neighbouring Rwanda began pushing into the western part of the country, forcing them to retract their offer to accommodate the Bantus. On
4096-484: Was not eliminated until the early parts of the 20th century. Somali Bantus are not ancestrally related to the indigenous ethnic Somalis of Cushitic background and have a culture distinct from the ethnic Somalis . The Somali Bantu have remained marginalized ever since the establishment of Somalia. Some Somali Bantu people have been displaced into Kenya, and a small number have returned to Tanzania. An overseas diaspora community of Somali Bantus can be found primarily in
#969030