A narrow street in Lamu's historic island old town. Most of the buildings standing today were built in the nineteenth century when the island entered its most prosperous period. However, the arrival of Arabs from Oman took place several hundred years earlier and resulted in the development of thriving island states off the East African Coast. Lamu's architectural style, known as Swahili, is an Afro-Arab blend. The inhabitants are Muslim with women dressing in black.