The surrounding region has been overrun by Arabs and Swahili from the East African coast.
Dating back to the 13th century, much of the Swahili structures are still intact, including mosques and a former sultan 's palace.
Another Star Trek publication suggested her first name is "Penda", a Swahili verb-ending that means "to love".
In its plural form, Swahili, the word has become the tribal name of the natives inhabiting the coast strip opposite Zanzibar.
This well-known Arab term for coast-belt (which in the plural form reappears as the familiar "Swahili" of Zanzibar) is applied to a third division of Tunisia, viz.