Kiswahili or Swahili is the first language of Swahili people and is used as lingua franca in most of the Southeast Africa. The language can be traced back many centuries back when Arabian traders came into contact with people living in east coast of Africa. Swahili was originally written using the Arabic script. Now, it is being written in Latin alphabet which was actually introduced by Christian missionaries and administrators of the colonial rule. Traditionally, Swahili was the language of the coastal regions of Tanzania and Kenya. The earliest known document was traced back in 1711 A.D.  which was written in Arabic script. Today, it is written using Latin script.