How might Africa’s history be different if Islam had not been introduced?

Similarly, in the Swahili coast, Islam made its way inland – spreading at the expense of traditional African religions. This expansion of Islam in Africa not only led to the formation of new communities in Africa, but it also reconfigured existing African communities and empires to be based on Islamic models. Some African societies were matrilineal, and these changed to a patrilineal system. More superficial changes included the changing of names to those favoured by Muslims. Often such names were adapted to suit African languages, for example, Muhammad became Mamadu and Ali was Africanized to Aliyu.

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