A finds by Professor Qin Dashu maybe can be an evidence that Cheng Ho is the first explored Africa. Professor Qin Dashu from Peking University and a joint team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists found the 15th Century Chinese coin in Mambrui; a tiny, nondescript village just north of Malindi on Kenya's north coast. In barely distinguishable relief, the team leader Professor Qin Dashu from Peking University's archaeology department, read out the inscription: "Yongle Tongbao"; the name of the reign that minted the coin some time between 1403 and 1424.
"These coins were carried only by envoys of the emperor, Chengzu," Prof Qin said.
"We know that smugglers would often take them and melt them down to make other brass implements, but it is more likely that this came here with someone who gave it as a gift from the emperor."
How did a coin from the early 1400s get to East Africa, almost 100 years before the first Europeans reached the region? The answer seems to be with Zheng He, also known as Cheng Ho; a legendary Chinese admiral who, the stories say, led a vast fleet of between 200 and 300 ships across the Indian Ocean in 1418. It is now believed that China's Zheng He reached East Africa long before any European explorer.
A few years ago, fishermen off the northern Kenyan port town of Lamu hauled up 15th Century Chinese vases in their nets, and the Chinese authorities ran DNA tests on a number of villagers who claimed Chinese ancestry. The tests seemed to confirm what the villagers have always believed that a ship from Zheng He's fleet sank in a storm and the surviving crew married locals, meaning some people in the area still have subtly Chinese features. It was then that Peking University organized its expedition to try to find conclusive evidence. The university is spending $3 million (£2 million) on the three-year project.
Ancient texts told of Zheng He's visit to the Sultan of Malindi; the most powerful coastal ruler of the time. But they also mentioned that Malindi was by a river mouth; something that the present town of Malindi doesn't have, but that Mambrui does. The old cemetery in Mambrui also has a famous circular tomb-stone embedded with 400 year old Chinese porcelain bowls hinting at the region's long-standing relationship with the East. In the broad L-shaped trench that the team dug on the edge of the cemetery, they began finding what they were looking for.
Mohamed Mchuria, a coastal archaeologist from the National Museums of Kenya, unearthed a stunning fragment of porcelain that Prof Qin believes came from a famous kiln called Long Quan that made porcelain exclusively for the royal family in the early Ming Dynasty. The jade green shard appears to be from the base of a much larger bowl, with two small fish in relief, swimming just below the surface of the glaze.
Source: BBC News
