Economic History
Merchants of the Indian Ocean: How Swahili Traders Built the World's First Globalized Economy
Long before European ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, East African merchants were orchestrating vast commercial networks that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. The story of Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast is not a footnote in global economic history — it is a foundational chapter that has been systematically overlooked. Reclaiming this narrative requires confronting the evidence hidden in plain sight.