Africa’s Kingdoms and Maritime Cultures: The Swahili Coast

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm so glad that you all have joined us today. Let me see if I can share my screen. Oops, for some reason it started right in the middle. Let me fix that real quick. There's my title slide. All right. So today we are into the second of our series. It's called African Kingdoms and Maritime Cultures. Last week we were able to look at ancient Carthage in the northeast part of the continent. And today we are headed to the east coast of the continent, also known as the Swahili Coast. And as has been introduced, my name is Wisteria. And I wanted to start off a little bit just very quickly to share the mission of the Mariners Museum and Park. We connect people to the world's waters because through those waters, through our shared maritime heritage, we are connected to one another. So the programs, the stories, the object that we share, we try to get those stories out in a lot of unique ways. And a lot of people may not realize that the continent of Africa really has a very, very long tie to the seas. What you're looking at here on the screen is just a few of the maps that we have in our collection. And you can see that really the shape and the stories about Africa through the centuries have changed drastically. So this first image here is of the entire continent. And you do have a few sea monsters on there. And then if you head to this next one here, where it zooms in on where our story is going to take us today. Here's a another image here showing the east coast of the continent. You can also see Madagascar. And this is just a few more zoomed in images of some of the boats. And again, more sea creatures that have popped up on the maps. But we're going to be starting with the east coast of Africa, as I mentioned, also known as the Swahili coast. But throughout history, there's been a few other names that anthropologists and historians have come across. Sometimes you see the east coast of Africa referred to as Zanj, Z-A-N-J, or you could see it as Zandia. Both of those are going to be terms that pretty much prevailed all the way into the 15th century, and the Swahili as this maritime power. But before we can actually dive into the Swahili, we need to take it back a few 1000 years and probably more than just a few 1000. We need to head back to what was known as the Bantu migrations. And roughly depending on which historians and anthropologists that you're looking at, that this is a series of migrations that's going to take place between 2000 BCE and 15 CE. And then you can see here on this first map that really they're coming from the interior of the continent somewhere here around Nigeria. Now, along with the group of people that are moving about, you also have a series of different Bantu languages that are going to change and evolve as the people start to spread out. Now, it actually kind of happened in two different berths. So you have one group as they're coming out of the interior are going to head a little bit more to the southwest. And then you have a larger set that's going to head towards the eastern coast of Africa. And what I was able to find is that a lot of these Bantu speaking communities are going to find their way to the great African rainforest around 500 BCE. And eventually another stream is going to head due east to the coast, and they make it there by 1000 BCE. And they're creating a new center around what is known today as the Great African Lakes. So as North America has its Great Lakes, so does the continent of Africa. Now, as these Bantu people are moving through the interior, we're finding that husbandry with animals, architecture, as well as agriculture are going to play a prominent role. But you also start seeing things like iron smelting and iron smithing, and new and other technologies that are making their way across the continent, and eventually are going to make their way into the east coast. As these communities are moving across, you start seeing a number of prominent cities starting to pop up. And these cities are going to turn into what we call our Swahili trading centers. And some of the bigger names that are going to become these centers of power is going to start all the way up here in Mogadishu, and make their way along the coast. So you have the Lamu Archipelago, which I will show you a more in-depth map a little further into the program. But you also have Malindi, Mombasa, all three of these are off the coast of Kenya. Then you also have Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Mafia Island, and also Kisa, Swahili. And all the way down to Mozambique, one of the bigger areas in that area is Sofala. And down here is really where they're starting to find things like gold. But there's not much known or written down about the eastern coast of Africa, or what becomes known as the Swahili coast, until there is a particular merchant. Now, and sadly, we don't have the name of this merchant, but we do have copies of this, what he wrote down, and it's called the Perplus of the Erythraean Sea. And it was written around the middle of the 1st century BC by a Greek-speaking Egyptian merchant. That is a mouthful. Greek-speaking Egyptian merchant. And it's really about 60 different parts. And the first 18 of this particular document is all about the journey down the eastern coast of Africa. So those first 18 are about the maritime trade routes following the north-south axis from Egypt, all the way down to what is modern-day Tanzania. And the remainder is going east to west, and it's looking basically from Egypt, around the Arabian Peninsula, past the Persian Gulf, and eventually into India. And I do have a printed copy of all of everything that's written, but I do want to read a couple of them to you. So we're going to be starting right at number 9. And at number 9 in this particular document, it says, two days sail or three beyond Malala is the market town of Mundus, where the ships lie at anchor more safely behind a projecting island close to the coast. And there they are imported into the place that things previously set forth. And from it, likewise, are exported the merchandise already stated. Incense and traders live there. And then he continue on as he's looking at a few days of travel. And again, he is referring to those particular areas that I pointed out to you. So he is somewhere in between Mogadishu and Mombasa for that number 9 area there. Now, this Greek speaking Egyptian merchant is not the only person that is speaking about the eastern coast of Africa. Now, before we get to that, let me give you an idea of what the Athrayan Sea is. It's essentially another name that was given to the Indian Ocean. And there's lots of trade that's going to be taking place. So, and I mentioned to you a little bit earlier about the term Zanzia. This is it right here. But you can look at some of the things that are going to be traded as this merchant is going around. So on the east coast of Africa, you're finding things like various types of spices. You're particularly sentiment. You do have the slave trade that's taking place. A lot of times when you hear people talk about the slave trade, a lot of times they're referring to the Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade. But there was another one that was on a slightly smaller scale taking place in the Indian Ocean. As we move down the coast, you can see that ivory is going to be another one of those exports that are going to be traded across the ocean. Looking at parts of India, they're bringing in other spices, iron, steel, and cloth. And these items are going to be traded back and forth between India and the eastern African coast. Now, how exactly are the Swahili? And let me say that when we refer to Swahili, it's an Arabic term that meant the coast, Sahel, which means the Swahili become the people of the coast. But today, it's kind of broken down a little bit more. The people themselves refer to themselves as Wa Swahili. And it's also a term for the language that is spoken, but it's Kila Swahili. And Kila Swahili is a mix of some of the indigenous African languages, particularly some of the Bantu. But you also have elements of Arabic, Persian, and Indian terminologies. And so you really have a combination of those to create this unique language. And today, there's about 100 to 150 million Swahili-speaking people. Here on the screen, these are two of the miniature models that we have in our collection. Both of these are going to be dhows. And dhows have been used on the Indian Ocean for thousands of years. This particular one here has three latin sails, which is your triangular sails. This one right here only has one larger one. In addition to dhows being used, you also have a mentepe, which is very similar to the dhow. And you would also have your double outrigger canoes. The one that we have in our collection is inside of our International Small Craft Center. And this one here is from the Lake Tanzania area. And I will tell you that these do not do very well on the very open seas. So you're going to stay a little bit closer to the coast. And you will use them particularly in some of the river valley areas. Now, with the dhows, with the mentepe, and also with some of the double outrigger canoes, you do find that the Swahili trading states are going to be taking advantage of the monsoon winds. And the monsoon winds are going to flow in different directions depending on the time of the year. So what you have here, going this way here, when you're looking at the November to February monsoon in Swahili, this is known as the Kasa Kazi. It's basically the northern or the eastern wind. And this wind took traders south along the coast and would cut the voyage into a shorter distance. It usually would take about four months for them to travel from one coast to the other. And then you have your other wind starting here in the south. It's known as Kusi. And this wind is going to allow them to head further up north along the coast. And this southern wind would usually take them about six months. So four months coming from the continent of India into Africa, and about six months roughly going in from Africa to India. And there is a transitional period sometime in March where there is a short exchange between these two winds. And this was something that, as you can see here, where these trade routes are going to be taking place. All along the eastern coast of Africa, up into the Red Sea, across the Arabian Peninsula, and see into other parts of Asia. And taking a look at some of the items that are going to be traded, these are all going to be exports from the east coast of Africa. So you have things like mangroves, which are going to be the different types of trees that they're going to be using to build some of these boats. You also have your frankincense and myrrh. You have ambergris here. And you also have a trade in animal hides. Some of the things that are coming into the eastern coast of Africa, and these are all items that the British Museum has, but you have pieces of Chinese porcelain. You have cowrie shells, which were found off of the coast of India and the Maldive Islands. And cowrie shells have a long history, not just on the east coast of Africa, but throughout the continent. Things like copper, glass beads, and glass itself. And both of these are coming in from the continent of India, as well as the Persian Empire as well, Persia, which today is the countries of Iraq and Iran. Now for the Swahili people, the Kila Swahili, we're looking back at the spread of Islam. Now the spread of Islam is going to begin in the second half of the 7th century. And it really became quite popular as it moved across after the death of Muhammad in 630. But in addition to the religion itself spreading out, you can also see that it's going to follow in with the number of the trade routes. So as it moves across the Arabian Peninsula, it does spread through parts of Asia, but it also starts to flow across the northeast coast of Africa, all the way up into several parts of southeastern Europe. And then it also moves down the coast from Egypt and headed a little bit further down the eastern coast of Africa. Now this is going to play a key role in a few things that I'm going to share with you in just a moment. But let me introduce you into Ibn Battuta. Now he is traveling around the early part of the 14th century. He was born in Tangier, Morocco. He traveled the Islamic world covering about 75,000 miles. And this is going to take place between about 1325 and 1352 CE. He visited 40 different countries and crossing three continents. And what's interesting is as historians and anthropologists have studied some of his works and have retraced his steps, they mentioned that the 75,000 miles that he is going to travel roughly estimates to about seven miles a day for 11,000 days, just to give you a sense of what he is traveling. Now as you can see that, and his travels are the ones right here in green. The ones that you see in red are actually those of Marco Polo. These two men never met, but you can see how their routes are going to overlap. So for Ibn Battuta, you can see that he traveled quite a bit through east coast of Africa, as well as the west coast of Africa. And because of the areas that he's traveling on both coasts are under Muslim control, a lot of these places are more Muslim ports. He found it very easy to move about quite well. And one of his visits actually takes him right down the east coast to Mombasa, Kenya. And here is what Ibn Battuta says about Mombasa and a couple of the cities down the coast of Africa. He mentions that we stayed one night in an island, Mombasa, and then pursued our journey to Kilwa, which is a large town on the coast. The majority of its inhabitants are Zanj, jet black in color and with tattoo markings on their face like the Lima and Jenga. I was told that a merchant, I was told by a merchant that the town of Sofala lies two weeks journey from Kilwa. So we're looking right here, you look right where I have my cursor, here's Kilwa. Sofala is going to be a little bit further down the coast, right about here. Let's see lies two weeks journey from Kilwa and that gold dust is distant from it. The city of Kilwa is among the most beautiful cities and elegantly built. All of it is wood. The ceiling of the houses are made of reed. The rains there are great. Its inhabitants are constantly engaged in holy war and for their country is contiguous to the heathen Zanj. Their chief qualities are devotion, piety, and they follow the Muslim tradition. Now in addition to Ibn Battuta traveling down and speaking about the eastern coast of Africa, we also have to introduce the Chinese. So you may have heard of Zen He, who was a Chinese explorer who traveled, had seven different voyages on behalf of the Chinese emperor. These voyages are going to take him throughout the South China Sea, to the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and down the eastern coast of Africa. You can see that they visited Mogadishu, probably visited Lemieux, headed all the way down to Malindi, and finishing off their voyage in Mombasa off the coast. His seven voyages, he's traveling between 1405 and 1433. And what's interesting is that historians have agreed that his main purpose was to promote the glory of the Ming dynasty. And there's actually a statue for him. But also what's interesting is that there is drawings and images of a giraffe that was presented to the Chinese emperor and stayed in the imperial garden. And this was a gift that was given to him by one of the chieftains on the eastern coast of Africa. We don't know if it was just a gift, or it was paying some kind of tribute, but it was drawn. And even from this image here, what a magnificent animal to receive as such a gift. Now, in addition to having the Chinese, as well as even Batuta, we also have the Portuguese headed to the east coast of Africa. And I will tell you, this is where there's going to be a little bit more confrontation that's going to take place. So the image that you see here is of Prince Henry the Navigator. He was the prince of Portugal, and this next photo that you see next to him, you'll notice that there is a cross on his chest. So Prince Henry the Navigator was part of the Order of Christ. And as he is going to be promoting the interests of the Portuguese, trying to find a southern route to Asia, particularly into India and to the Spice Islands, the other thing that he's interested in doing is he's trying to keep Muslim interests out of the Holy Land. So Prince Henry the Navigator is going to be part of the Crusades. Now, I mentioned before that even Batuta really did not have problems as he's traveling around, because he was hitting a lot of the cities and ports that were under Muslim rule. But imagine if you are a Christian moving into some of these areas, there's going to be higher taxes, you could be kept out of this country, and vice versa. If you were Muslim heading into Christian ports, the same thing will happen. Now, the other thing that Prince Henry is looking for is he is looking for this man right here. He is looking for the fabled Prester John. And he had heard that Prester John was an African Christian king somewhere in this area here. So we've got the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, as well, and Somalia here. Now, the idea behind this is that if they could find this king, that the Portuguese can join forces, they can close off the ports along the eastern coast of Africa into the Indian Ocean, close them off to to the Muslim merchants that are coming in. The sad thing about this is that this is simply a story. Even though parts of Ethiopia had been Christian for centuries, there was not this particular Prester John. But stories and fables of this mythical king lasted all the way into the 16th and 17th century. So this brings us now to Vasco de Gama. De Gama is actually following the route of his predecessor, Bartholomew Diaz, as they are trying to find this southern route to Asia. For de Gama, it finally takes him, he reaches the Cape of Good Hope and then rounds it and makes his way up the eastern coast of Africa around 1498. And as I mentioned, this is where things really are going to change for the Swahili coast. For the Portuguese, they make their way into Africa, they're trading, they eventually make their way into India. For the Portuguese, they really didn't understand the relationship that was going on with when it came to trade. The merchants, even the Zamorin in India and those along the eastern coast of Africa, were used to trading in things like gold and spices and animal hides, where the Portuguese on their first visit brought things that would be considered as trinkets. They were pretty much laughed at. But they eventually returned and brought in the items that they could easily start to trade. But then there is going to be contention between some of those Muslim merchants and the Portuguese, and you're going to have a battle ensue over the eastern coast of Africa. For the Portuguese, the eastern coast of Africa is a means to an end. They're looking at it as if they controlled this area, they had a number of ports where it was easier for them to refuel, or it's not refuel, excuse me, to gather supplies before heading out to India. So the Portuguese come in the early part of the 16th century, and they conquered each and every seaport down the eastern coast, starting here in Mogadishu, and making their way all the way down the coast. Here in Sefala, this is where they're going to start finding some of the gold mines, and there is another kingdom down here who had that control, and that was the great Zimbabwe Empire. Now there is one particular city that is going to kind of hold out just a little bit, and that's going to be Malindi. Malindi decided that they are not going to fight back, they're going to join forces with the Portuguese. But that too eventually is going to fall, and starting around 1503, one after the other are going to fall to the Portuguese. As we're looking at Mombasa, which was considered one of the richest and more powerful areas, you also have the islands of Zanzibar, you also have parts of the Arabian coasts that are going to be trading. And so to kind of counterbalance what's happening with the Portuguese, the Swahili trading states are going to reach out to another ally. But before doing so, you're going to see here that the Portuguese are going to leave their mark across the Indian Ocean. So as I mentioned, starting at their very earliest in the early 1400s, finally making their way around the coast, and you can see here where they are going to start their interactions, 1498 to the 1500s. And they're going to establish Portuguese ports, and the Portuguese held on to this area with a tight fist. They took everything that they possibly could to try to kick out those Muslim traders. So what does the Swahili trading ports do? They decide that they are going to reach out to the Oman Empire off of the southeastern coast of what's today Saudi Arabia, and they come in. And this is in the early 19th century, and the Omani decide to move their capital from Oman all the way down to the island of Zanzibar. And by doing that, they were able to establish more farms, particularly in clothes. I may have mentioned about the slave trade, the eastern, east coast slave trade, and this is going to increase the number of enslaved people that are captured here to work on some of those clothed farms. And it's going to completely solidify Oman control of the east coast of Africa and parts of India until British rule. The Omanis were able to expel the Portuguese in the 1650s and became the leading force against them in the entire area. Now eventually there's going to be a number of wars going back and forth from these foreign powers, so between the Portuguese, between the British, and between Oman for the eastern coast. Now what we find is after they, again as I mentioned, are going to relocate their capital, you also have a significant rise in some of the imports. So you can see that they're importing more ambergris, they're importing ivory, timber, spices, and then there's things that are coming into the continent. You have ghee, which a lot of people cook with today, frankincense, coconut, dates, lime. You also have, you start seeing a large number of tortoise shell being found on the eastern coast. Now how do we know really about these different nations that are coming into the west coast of Africa? Well, we go to archaeology. So this map here shows all the different sites that they were able to find various artifacts relating to the Portuguese, related to Oman, but especially the Chinese coming in. Some of the pieces of pottery that I showed you a little further into the program were all found in these archaeological finds up and down the coast, and this still continues to this very day. Now things do eventually get better for the eastern coast of Africa. In 1861, the island of Zanzibar is going to separate from Oman and became its own independent country. Eventually, all of the Swahili coast is going to gain its independence, starting with Lemieux, which is part of Kenya, and Kenya is going to gain its independence from England on December 12, 1863. You've got the Lemieux archaeological archipelago here, and it is a port city. What's amazing about Lemieux today is that it's also known as Lemieux Old Town. There are no cars allowed on this island. All transportation, you're going to be flying in to the nearest island, and then you're either going, you're going to probably be taking a boat across. Let me go back here. So you'll be, you could fly in from the mainland to Monda Island, and then you'll be taking a short dowel across into Lemieux. While on the island, you could travel by donkey, you could be walking, and also they're starting to see a large rise in mopeds. Actually, Lemieux was just in the news about a week ago. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but the article that I read said that that distinction could cause a problem because they are starting to see a larger number of these particular mopeds being used on the island, so much so that it's actually taking over, and environmentalists are hoping that this is not going to cause a problem. But according to the document, the Kenyan government is very keen on keeping that status of the UNESCO World Heritage site. The image on the side here is our Kenyan dowel, which can be seen. It's on display here at the Mariners Museum, and you could also see images of it if you go online to our international small craft. This is an image of the boat where it was at the 2014 Smithsonian Folk Festival in Washington, D.C., and after that event, the dowel itself was donated to the Mariners Museum. Lemieux is also known for its ornate architecture, as you see here on the front, on this door here. Now we're headed a little bit further down. We're headed down into Tanzania, and we're headed into Kilwa. Tanzania and Zanzibar actually merged to form Tanzania, and they received their independence on December 1st, 1961, and that was from the British as well. This is another area that has another site that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site. This is the Great Stone Mosque that's in Kilwa, and this was probably something that was seen by Ibn Battuta as well as a few other travelers to the area. The remains of Kilwa pretty much covers the area. The Great Mosque was built in the 11th century and was enlarged in the 13th century, and it's still standing here, and you can see the insides of this building. And I was actually able to find a map that was put together, and this is also part of some of that archaeological sites that is taking place on that eastern coast. Finally, this brings us to the island of Zanzibar, and this is Zanzibar Island right here, and it is known as part of its history is shaped by the geography. You can still see one of the forts that was built by the Portuguese there, another port city, more of some of that ornate architecture that is found along the eastern coast of Africa. And as I mentioned, the eastern slave trade, Zanzibar becomes one of the major ports of that in the 18th and 19th century. This is the former slave market. Today, off to the side, there is an Anglican church that has been built there, and this is the sign that you can see here that sits right next to that, and this is just a memorial to recognize the country's history as part of the eastern slave trade. Now, my co-workers know that I have a love of working with gourds, and so I was able to find these images here in the British Museum that were made on the eastern coast of Africa. Some of these were done in the early 19th century, the rest of them in the early to middle 20th century. So you have your gourds here, wood-burning decorations. Some of the other items that were found on the eastern coast of Africa, things made out of ivory, things made out of copper. You also have bronze, and you also see a number of fabrics. This one is known as kenga, and it was used as head wraps, as you see me wearing on my head. They would wrap it around their bodies. What's interesting about the kenga fabrics is that these were made by women, and the women would put different sayings into the fabrics, and so you have this one down here, and I don't think I recorded what that actually says, but I found while I was doing the research for this presentation, I found that I actually have a kenga head wrap in my stash. I had no idea that I even had it, and it's red and had this very unique design on it, as well as a saying, and I looked up what mine says, and it says, trust in God. So looking at the east coast of Africa, that has a huge and long history, dating all the way back to the early Bantu migrations, all the way down to the present day, where a lot of the places that I've mentioned today are, the tourism in that area is quite welcomed, and again, you can see some of the beautiful kenga fabrics that both the men and the women are going to be wearing. And that brings us to the end of our presentation of the Swahili Coast. We have a question, and while we're asking this question, if you all have any more, please go ahead and put that in the Q&A box, so Wisteria will be able to answer it for you. So this person asks, how accurate is the periplus considered? So as I was looking into it, a lot of the historians that are quoted have said that it's pretty accurate. Some of the different names and the spellings have changed a little bit, but from what I've been able to find, it's pretty accurate. Great. We have another question here, how far did the Swahili slave trade extend into the interior of the Swahili Coast? Kenya, Somalia, et cetera, how far down the coast of Africa? And they say, excellent presentation. Thank you. From what little, I didn't really focus too much on the slave trade, which is another program that I'll be doing in the future, but it pretty much extends down the entire coast. They're getting some of the enslaved populations from the interior and bringing them to the coast. And then as the different nations are coming in, you also, very similarly to the transatlantic slave trade, where you have some of the more dominant groups are engaging in this trade, but pretty much all the way from Mogadishu all the way down to Sefala, because again, that's where, and particularly in Sefala, when you're looking back at history, that's where a lot of the gold was found, and you have some of those other kingdoms in that area. Great. Okay, I've got another question here, what drove the Bantu migrations? So a lot of it was just looking at as they're expanding their agriculture, there's also some tribal wars going on, but really, it's spreading out from that area, the languages as they spread out. And that's something that a lot of the anthropologists, they're not looking so much at the people moving, but as they're looking at the different languages that have spread out. One number that I've seen of the different languages is about between 500 and 900 different dialects that are moving out as they're spreading out. But that is something else that I'm also going to be diving into a little bit further. Great, another one here, how about how many tribal groups make up the coast? That's a tough one to follow, because some of those groups were very small in number, and were absorbed as these different city-states are going to be developing. But let me do a little bit more research and see if I can't find if there is a definite number for that. I didn't find it in my first round of research. All right, another one here. This might be in relation to the trade, the slave trade. It says, where were taken to from Zanzibar? I guess, where were these people exported to? A lot of them are going to be exported into the Arabian Peninsula, and you do start seeing a smaller number heading a little bit further than that. You could find them in other parts of what we refer to as the Middle East. Some of them did eventually make their way into Europe, but mostly what you see is a northeastern route for them. Another one here, which year did the Omani expel the Portuguese? She says, you said it, but I missed it. Let's see, I've got notes right in front of me. I want to say, hold on just a second, Portuguese were kicked out 1650. Great. Starting in 1650 and then kind of working their way through. Okay, and it looks like we have one more question here, and you may have touched on this previously. It says, who was running the slave trade in that area? So it's very similar to the transatlantic slave trade, where at least in the transatlantic slave trade, you've got four continents involved. Really, you have these more dominant groups in these Swahili city-states that are going to be a part of the slave trade, along with some of the Portuguese and the other nations that are coming in. So you said that a lot of the people were sent to Arabia, so were they heavily involved as well? I guess the Arabs at that point? Yeah, especially when the Oman comes in and they move their capital, Zanzibar, that was one of the reasons to do so, because of those farms, those large areas where they're trying to grow more of those spices, essentially more people to work the land is going to be needed. So yes, they were. Great, and then let's see here, last question it looks like is, with all of the mixes, are today's coastal countries Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or a mix? So you do see a mix, but predominantly the Swahili are Muslim, and I think specifically Sunni. Great, and then it looks like one more question here, it says, what about the languages? How did they communicate while conducting trade? Do they speak a common language? So the common language is going to be that Kila Swahili, because of all the different merchants that are coming in, and it was the principal language for the merchants. So people are learning that particular language, and I will tell you that if you, if anyone does the Duolingo, Duolingo, I can't even speak, I'm sorry, Duolingo, it is one of the languages that you could learn how to speak. I tried a, tried to do it for about five minutes. There's a few words that I've been able to learn, but I think over time as you're speaking it, it gets a little bit easier. And there are some Swahili speaking people here in the United States. But yeah, it's a combination. Well, that looks to be all the questions that we have today. Well, I want to thank everybody very much for coming to this presentation. As I mentioned, it's the second in our series of African kingdoms and maritime cultures. Throughout the years, pretty much ongoing, we're going to have more of, more looks at different maritime cultures on the continent of Africa. Our next and last Black History Month program for at least a month is going to be the waterways of Africa. And we're going to be focused on the Nile. And this program will be presented by myself as well as my teammate Erica Cosme. And we'll be talking about that on Saturday, February 27th at one. Great. Well, thank you very much. And I'll have a great day. All right. Thank you all. See you next time.