This is a history of the literature of African Islamic peoples.

- 11 -Issue 24, September 2024 by granting awards to writers and artists and encouraging them to use European languages.

Poetry appeared in Africa in multiple local and foreign languages and in several stages, including: Anonymous folklore poetry, which is circulated orally among people, and is the oldest poetry spoken in local dialects in Africa. Then comes popular poetry, also composed in the local dialect. Some of it is documented and the names of its poets are known, while other parts are oral and of unknown authorship.

As for modern poetry composed in African languages, it is documented and attributed to its authors. As for poetry composed in European languages, it is all documented, and the most important of these languages are: Portuguese, English, and French, which are widely used in the West of the continent and the Arab Maghreb. Nevertheless, Arabic-speaking poets in Sub-Saharan Africa preceded European language poets by several centuries.

The poetry documented in local African languages is few in comparison to other languages. Among the East African languages, we mention: the Amharic language in Ethiopia, which knew poetry before the 14th century AD. As for the Swahili language in Kenya and its neighboring countries, poetry appeared in it in the 18th century AD, and after that, poetry appeared in Somalia in the Somali language.

As for West Africa, poetry appeared in the Hausa language in Nigeria and its neighboring countries in the 17th century AD, and at a later stage, Nigerian poets composed in the Yoruba language. As for the poetry in Senegal, Mali, and some West Sudanese states, which was spoken in local languages, it remained mostly oral, linked to tales and myths.

It is worth mentioning that poetry documented in local languages preceded poems written in European languages. The Hausa, Swahili, and Amharic languages knew alphabets, including the Arabic script, before the arrival of European colonialism to the continent. However, most of it was lost.