The Arabs first asserted their trade along the East Coast of Africa without settling. Their competition was traders from the Indian Ocean and Far East empires. 

Looking at the Swahili people specifically, what products, resources and goods were traded to these foreigners? Explain how the Swahili benefited from this interaction with foreigners?

 

The trade between the Swahili people and the Arabs in the East Coast of Africa is evident in our world history. Goods such as spices, ivory, gold, animal skins, and timber that came from the Swahili people were traded with rice, jewellery, fragrances, coffee, and tea from the Arabs. African slaves were also sold to the Arabs for work and labor. However, the trade transcended beyond the tangible things because there was also an evident intermarriage of cultures between the Swahili people and the Arabs. With this, the Swahili people acquired the influences of Arabs from language, Mathematics, and ways of life. Thus, there was a growth of the economy and fusion of cultures.

Step-by-step explanation

Through the Indian Ocean, the Arabs and other people like Chinese and Indians were able to trade with people in Africa, particularly the trade between the Arabs and the Swahili people in the East Coast of Africa. The goods I've mentioned in the answer were the prominent resources of the Swahili people that the Arabs were also interested of, most especially the slaves. Slavery was common in Africa and it has become a source of income of the people. It is also a reality that trade doesn't only affect the economy, but as well the culture and the people, thus there has been an intermarriage of cultures between the traders.