Sociology

When we talk of an indigenous people we mean any tribal group of people who reside in a geographic region and they are known to have had a long historical connection. A tribal or racial group may be referred to as indigenous in relation to some particular location. There is an outlined criterion of determining what an indigenous group is, their continuity with a given region, or parts of a region and who formally reside in that given region (Richard, 2000)

Other distinct characteristics of the indigenous people include the fact that they have maintained at least in part their distinct linguistic, cultural and social uniqueness and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the neighboring populations of the fatherland (James, 1999). An indigenous group of people is largely secluded from the control of the claimed authority by the fatherland.

Indigenous people have certain distinctive characteristics, they have relatively common concerns. This is in reference to not only their status and interaction with other cultural groups, but also their changes in their inhabited environment. Some problems faced among indigenous people are common (Brock, 2005). Another characteristic of the indigenous people is that they have a historical indigenous culture.
Culture here means the way of life and how they carry themselves in their daily lives, their language, type of food they eat, the language they speak, the type of houses they live in, among others (Gillions, 20000. Indigenous people are known to occupy the most regions of the world and their population may be difficult to compile given the fact that they are often affected by chances of migrations, relocations, loss of lands, forced resettlements and maybe because of their economic activities for instance the nomads.

Finally, the indigenous people are known to exhibit common characteristics. For instance, they are broadly known to rely on substance production, and their main economic activity can either be hunting, gathering, nomads or pastoralists. They are also known to occupy the rural areas of every nation.
When we talk of culture, we mean the way of life in consideration to social, political and economic activities of a particular indigenous people. And precisely, cultural change is how this indigenous people advance in their way of life from the grass roots to what can be termed as advancement in culture, which is better than that in the past (James, 1999).

Lets consider one indigenous group of people called the Waswahili. The Swahili are a group of people found on the coastal regions of East Africa, mainly Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The name Swahili is a consequent from the  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiArabic_language o Arabic language Arabic word Swahili, meaning, The people that dwell in the coastal region they evolved gradually from the 6th century to the coastal regions mainly for purposes of trade (Richard, 2000). They did increase population and that led to urbanization, developing the region to what is currently called the Swahili city states.

When we consider their culture, the waswahili people speak in Swahili language and in fact the main national language of the country Tanzania is Swahili. Its estimated that around 90 million people speak the Swahili language. And everyone who speaks this language Swahili can be grouped as the waswahili group as the language identifies the waswahili people (Gillions, 2000). The main religion of the waswahili is Islam.

This was as a result of the influence of the presence of the Persian and Arabian traders in the east African coast around 1012 AD, who are said to have come from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula respectively. With the exchange of ideas that led to intermarriages between the people of the east Africa coast and the traders, it led to the emergence of the waswahili people. The unifying force of the Islam brought the waswahili people together giving them a common identity among the people of the coastal region. They follow a very stern and traditional form of Islam.

The main economic activity of the waswahili people is trade. They did play a role as middle men between East central and South Africa, and the outside world. There are trade contacts that have been noted as early as 100AD (Julie  Christine, 2000). There were also established trade routes extended across Tanzania into modern day republic of Congo.

The materials they traded on include ivories and slaves which they exchanged for gold and other cowry shells which were predominantly used as a medium of exchange. Many slaves sold from the east African coasts ended up in Brazil, which was then a Portuguese protectorate (James, 1999). Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. They do sell fish to their inland neighbors to get products from the interior.

The waswahili are neighbors with the Mijikenda, Zigua, Kwere, Zaramo, Makonde, among other tribes in the east African coast. Swahili art forms are limited to architecture, furniture and personal adornment (Gillions, 2000). The main type of food of the waswahili is rise, cooked the Russian way, their houses are well decorated with Persian wall mats and their floors are well covered with Arabian carpets.
 Their house types are semi permanent, covered with makuti (dry long grass) on the roof tops. Men are known to dress in long veils (kanzus), while women are known to dress in long dresses that cover nearly the total body including the head (Julie  Christine, 2000). The Swahili women are known to exhibit much respect to their men and they have grown to know that is the Islamic culture.

Academically, the waswahili people have schools called the madrassa, derived from a Swahili name madarasa, meaning class.

The political organization of the waswahili people is not clearly defined this is because they are often incorporated in the political practices of their neighbors (Brock, 2005). The main point here is that they have well established Kadhi courts that help in solving differences among themselves, Kadhi court is based on the Islamic constitution.
 
Therefore, the above brings us to a conclusion of the waswahili culture, and we can see their culture too, they are neither hunters nor pastoralists but traders.