Before 1698
The presence of microlithic tools in Zanzibar attests to at least 50,000 years of human occupation, which was the beginning of the Later Stone Age.
A Greco-Roman text between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, mentioned the island of Menuthias which is probably Unguja. Little is known about the history of Zanzibar between the time of the Periplus and the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, roughly corresponding to the Roman Empire and the decline of the Western Roman Empire. From that point forward, wars in Asia and increasing trade motivated Persians, Arabs, and Indians to visit or migrate to Zanzibar.
The impact of these traders and immigrants on the Swahili culture remains controversial. During the Middle Ages,
the East African Swahili coast [including Zanzibar] was a wealthy and advanced region, which consisted of many autonomous merchant cities. Wealth flowed into the cities via the Africans' roles as intermediaries and facilitators of Indian, Persian, Arab, Indonesian, Malaysian, African, and Chinese merchants. All of these peoples enriched the Swahili culture to some degree. The Swahili culture developed its own written language; the language incorporated elements from different civilizations, with Arabic as its strongest quality. Some Arab settlers were rich merchants who, because of their wealth, gained power--sometimes as rulers of coastal cities.
Was the Swahili culture of the Middle Ages an Arab or Persian invention or was it instead primarily based on indigenous African development and culture?
According to some, Persian traders used Zanzibar as a base for voyages between the Middle East, India, and Africa. Unguja, the larger island, offered a protected and defensible harbor, so although the archipelago offered few products of value, the Persians settled at what became Zanzibar City ("Stone Town") a
