Final answer:
West African elites and Africans along the Swahili Coast converted to Islam mainly to access Islamic knowledge and bolster trade networks, leading to syncretism with their traditional beliefs. Islam facilitated broad international trade and provided unity across the Islamic world, despite local variations in practice.
Step-by-step explanation:
Elites in West Africa and the Africans along the Swahili Coast converted to Islam primarily to access the knowledge and scholarship of the Islamic world, and to establish and enhance trade networks. Islamic conversion through interactions with Muslim merchants and traders was quite common, facilitating the spread of Islam without the use of force. Syncretism, the blending of Islamic beliefs with traditional African beliefs, was a notable feature of this religious transition.
In West Africa, centers such as Gao and Koumbi Saleh became conduits for Islamic ideas through trans-Saharan trade routes. Similarly, along the Swahili Coast, religious and cultural assimilation occurred as a result of prolonged interaction with Arab and Persian merchants, leading to the construction of mosques and religious schools.
The Islamic identity helped connect these regions to the larger Islamic world, creating unity and facilitating international trade. However, local adaptations like ancestor veneration, the use of magical rituals, and the higher status of women in some areas indicated a unique practice of Islam in the Swahili Coast, different from other Muslim societies.