[eskimo]

Kwanzaa's ancient roots lie in African first-fruit harvest celebrations, from which it takes its name. The word Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza," which means "first fruits."

It is my understanding the "Swahili", as you call them, occupy the western part of Africa and are not the African people who where sold into slavery by the eastern African slave merchants. There seems to be no evidence that any form of "Swahili" culture has ever been exported to America.

I could be wrong.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"Swahili" isn't what I call them, it's what CNN calls them.

[wtc911]

Swahili is a language, not a tribe or a people. It is an Arabic word that was used to describe the "coastal people" of Eastern Africa. A common language was needed for trading purposes and swahili evolved in the same manner as creole did, that is, as an amalgam of multiple languages including, ultimately, English.