Swahili is one of the Bantu languages (of which there are many including Zulu, Xhosa and Shona). It is spoken widely throughout East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) as a first language, and by many more as a second language.
It emerged sometime in early in the first century AD in its present location having spread from the Great Lakes. Its early speakers were involved in the coastal trade and the language began to spread and evolve into its current form.
One of the strongest outside influences on the evolution of Swahi has been Arabic.
Swahili has been heavily influence by Arabic due to contact with Arabic speaking traders over the centuries, and some around thirty percent on its vocabulary has its origin in Arabic.
The name for 'Swahili' is 'Kiswahili' and this has its origin in the Arabic word for coast and means 'coastal language' - which it literally was for many years.
History of Swahili
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