Using at least three sources, write a brief history about the location, culture, and dominant religions of the following groups: Arab, Ashanti, Bantu, and Swahili. In your essay, describe any common characteristics these groups share. Cite your evidence.

ARAB:

Dominant Religion: Islam, 93%

Location(s): Primarily Mauritania, Atlantic coast of Africa, North Africa, Egypt, Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula, and Syria and Iraq.

Culture: "To be an Arab, like an American, is a cultural trait rather than racial. The Arab world includes Muslims, Christians and Jews. Any person who adopts the Arabic language is typically called an Arab. Arabic is the official and the original language of the Qur'an, the Islamic holy book."

Some Arab traditions include, but are not limited to:

Long handshakes, grasped elbows, and walking hand in hand by two males.

ASHANTI

Location: Ghana

Culture: "The Ashanti religion is a mixture of spiritual and supernatural powers. They believe that plants, animals, and trees have souls. They also believe in fairies, witches, and forest monsters. There are a variety of religious beliefs involving ancestors, higher gods, or abosom, and 'Nyame', the Supreme Being of Ashanti."

Dominant Religion: Traditional Ashanti religion. (Monotheistic)

BANTU:

Location: Sub-Saharan Africa

Culture: "Although the Bantu speakers introduced an Iron Age and an agriculture civilization into a Neolithic hunting and gathering society, their way of life came to vary greatly from place to place."

Dominant Religion: Traditional Bantu religion (polytheistic animism)

SWAHILI:

Location: East Africa

Dominant Religion: Sunni Islam (finally, a simple answer)

Culture: "Swahili culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region. As with the Swahili language, Swahili culture has a Bantu core and has also borrowed from foreign influences. ... As a consequence, they were influenced by Arabic, Persian, Indian, and Chinese cultures."

I'll put my sources in the comments