✊🏿ap african american studies review

Portuguese invasion of the Swahili Coast

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2027 exam
Verified for the 2027 examWritten by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025

Definition

The sixteenth-century military conquest and settlement of major Swahili Coast city-states by Portuguese forces seeking to control Indian Ocean trade routes.

AP course connection

Topic 1.8: 1.8 Culture and Trade in Southern and East Africa

Unit 1

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