E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
John Weinstein/The Field Museum
This Chinese coin, issued between 1403 and 1425, was found during excavations at the island of Manda in Kenya.
By Megan Gannon, LiveScience
A Chinese coin about 600 years old was recently unearthed on an island just off the coast of Kenya. If it proves to be authentic, the coin could show that the Chinese explorer Zheng He — like a Christopher Columbus of the East — came to this part of east Africa.
"This finding is significant. We know Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world, but this coin opens a discussion about the relationship between China and Indian Ocean nations," archaeologist Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum in Chicago said in a statement.
The copper and silver disk has a square hole in the center, possibly to be worn on a belt. Kusimba told LiveScience it was found on the first day of excavations at Manda, an island that hugs Kenya's coast about 200 miles northeast of Mombasa. A joint expedition, led by Kusimba and Sloan R. Williams of the University of Illinois at Chicago, spent this past December through February studying the site.
The coin was issued from 1403 to 1425, and it bears the name of Emperor Yongle, leader of the Ming Dynasty who started building China's Forbidden City. At that time, Manda was nearing the end of its reign as a trading post. In 1430, the island was abandoned and never inhabited again. [Photos: The 10 Rarest US Coins]
Kusimba believes the coin could prove the island was visited by Zheng He, a court eunuch who rose to commander of the Chinese Navy. Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He on several ambitious voyages to explore the lands bordering the Indian Ocean and expand Chinese trade and political influence.
"Zheng He was, in many ways, the Christopher Columbus of China," Kusimba said. "It's wonderful to have a coin that may ultimately prove he came to Kenya."
The researchers got permission from the Kenyan government to export the coin to Chicago, where it is undergoing chemical analysis at The Field Museum. "We just want to be sure that it's an original government issue rather than a counterfeit," Kusimba told LiveScience.
The team will head back to Manda this coming December for another digging season; they plan to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed academic journal.
"This is one of the oldest sites in Sub-Saharan Africa and I think it's going to inform us a lot about the early relationship Africa had with Europe and Asia," Kusimba said.
Email Megan Gannon or follow her @meganigannon. Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
- 9 Craziest Ocean Voyages
- 8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries
- In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Leave a Comment:
Now China may lay claim to the entire East coast of Africa, and all lands adjacent, in a manner similar to their claims to the South China Sea ans all lands within and bordering it.
They may also claim the coasts of Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan. They might want to try for the Arabian nations, but some might object.
But who can deny them. They do need lebensraum (look it up in wikipedia) and resources.
On the contrary to your idiotic sarcasm. China didn't start the colonial age, enslaving people, conquering nation just because they ventured overseas. The European did.
Also to the contrary to your anti-China bandwagen sentiment by tring to use historical context, China has grown to its current size by being invaded, not the other way around. Mongolians invaded China, then was in turn assimilated by China. Same with the Manchurians, they incorporated themselves willingly as part of China by founding the Qing Dynasty. The Koreans didn't invade China, and Chinese hardly shown any interest to claim Korea.
In the South, most of the countries you mentioned at times in the past had tried to invade into China proper for the riches when China was weakened. China was the superpower of the world at least twice in the past 5k years and you should be grateful that China never had strong interest to push South. Once Vietnam's nation identity came to existence and gained its independence, China never tried to lay claim to the land again.
I thought I read Vietnam kicked China's ass more than once and once in my lifetime. Didn't an incident occur in the 80's? Not being a smart ass, just want to be informed.
Didn't "kick their asses". Vietnam invaded Cambodia (and boy, if there ever was an intervention that was needed, Cambodia needed one) and China invaded to retaliate on behalf of the Cambodian govt. China had no intention of taking over Vietnam, just to get them to pull out of Cambodia.
Thanks, some times the cobwebs catch fire and cloud my memory. Was it the 80's?
It would be a neat trick to claim the coast of a landlocked nation like Afghanistan.
China isn't trying to claim other lands. Their lebensraum is for trade only. All countries need imports of natural resourses also. They also were on the North American continent as early as 1421.
Why assume someone from China came to Africa? Why not someone from Africa going to China and bringing it home? Don't forget it could have been a good luck charm from the belongings of some shipwrecked sailor anytime in the past 600 years.
They found a sunken ship off the coast of Kenya last year. It was from China.
Zheng He was recorded on Chinese history books to have set sail 7 times with a fleet of 40 ships. They brought back zebras and giraffes, but no slaves, like the Europeans did.
Now if they could only find Barry's birth certificate.
Thanks GT for the moronic comment.
It's simple, Africa didn't have a sea worthy nation at the time. China did, and this finding merely showed extend of the distance Zheng He traveled. You can look up Zheng He and see the time he reached Venice.
I have always wondered by Zheng He's voyages were never followed up. They seem to have been a sort of one-shot deal.
China are the current colonialists in Africa as many African nations are finding to their cost, but it looks like they beat the Europeans to it in the first place.
A colony is a territory under direct political control of a state. Which part of Africa is currently controlled by China?
China is in Africa now because the rest of the world especially the West abandoned the place after it's had its use. The politicians in the West dare not touch any African issues because it doesn't yield any benefit for their elections. With China, some of the African countries are experiencing the fastest economic growth they have ever had.
When China trades with African countries, there are no strings attached. It's simple barter, African countries trade natural resourses for infrastructure, ie. railroads, water treatment plants, freeways, port facilities, etc. In the Americas, the Panama Canal was becoming obsolete for modern shipping, so now China is spending billions upgrading the canal to meet shipping needs and for todays mega ships. They are also building a railway from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean. The Chinese don't go about the world beating their chest and yelling, "look at me." The Chinese are a business oriented people and know gunboat diplomacy is a myth.
China is trading and building infrastructure in countries long ignored by the West. Like the Japanese, they don't go sticking their noses into other countries governments or cultures. They deal with who is in power and if the government changes, they deal with the next guy.
Why is it that 'scientists' always doubt the accomplishments of a global explorer until they find 'proof' they were actually in the area? Scottish highlanders traveled to China. Irish sailors sailed to North America. Chinese sailed to what it now California. Scandinavians sailed to -- and settled on -- the shores of Newfoundland and further south. Vikings traveled as far inland in North America as present day Michigan. Why does the scientific community always think they are the only ones intelligent enough to see the facts?
backtobasics, You have stated things perfectly.
Uh, one of the basic principles of science is that proof is necessary in order to accept an hypothesis as fact.
Yeah, you have to separate myth and story from real events...
Another "check-mark" in the plus column for Ethnic Studies. So much more to learn than what is in the national package of education in most countries. To be fair to science, scientist by practice are suppose to doubt everything, and I mean everything, with out evidence. If someone else says they heard a tree fall in the forest and you found a tree laying in the forest but did not hear it fall, you have no proof that the tree made a sound, only the word of a "sound" witness and perhaps two "eye" witnesses who observed a tree laying on the ground. If the sound witness was also an eyewitness than the evidence is more credible, if not, scientist couldn't even prove it was a tree that fell based on the information. The sound witness might have just had a hearing dys-function.
Read the book by Ivan Van Sertima entitled "They Came Before Columbus" for details regarding Africans explorers
Yes, especially if you enjoy junk science.
I have read what you said about the coin that you have that is suposed to be 600 years old...well I have a shocker for you. I have a coin from the Ming Dynasty in great shape. It looks like it was just fordged. I took very good care of the coin when I found it on one of my many travels. I believe that it dates back in the Ch' ing Dynasty and around the time of Han Dynasty. It looks Gold in color, there are no flaws in it, and you can read the writings very well on it. If you want to talk E-mail me and I will show you, or send you a picture of what I have....Jill
I don't know if you got my last message, but I was trying to tell somebody here that I also have a coin to be from the Ch'ing Dynasty, also around the Han Dynasty. Mine looks like it's brand new, and I have had it with me for more then 20 years. I found it on one of my many trips that I used to take. Now this coin that I found looks like Gold, but is light, not heavy. The marking were very hard to find in the coins they have on here, and the only one that it came closed to was from the Ch'Ing Dynasty and the Han which makes the coin around AD 221-265. Write to me and see what you think, if you need a picture I could send one to you....Jill
Jill, I'm interested in seeing the coin. I collect Korean, Chinese, and Japanese coins. Can you remember where you found the coin? Anyway, if you could send me an attachment with a photo of the coin:
hikeinmts@hotmail.com
It could also have simply been dropped by an Arab trader on the island. One coin does not mean that a Chinese ship had visited.
Telperien, You must have forgotten Tibet. That was the last country China invaded and conquered and assimilated into China. Also, I live in S. Korea. Several invasions into Korea.....one of the reasons that ALL of the fortresses/castles of Korea were knocked down, stone by stone......China did not want to fight so many battles if/when they decided to invade Korea again.
To the Chinese' credit, they never tried to make Korea a part of China. They did have court officials in Korea, whose purpose was to present China's thoughts/wishes/desires to the ruler of Korea, before the ruler would make any decision.
And, the Chinese tried to warn/help Korea, when it knew of Japan's intentions......actually lose of life involved, by Chinese soldiers, trying to defend against the Japanese.
BUT......some of China's present day dealings with VietNam, The Philippines.....make a person wonder what the aims/intentions of the Chinese are, these days. AND their dealing with North Korea: The Chinese are paying a very cheap price for the right of taking all the mineral wealth of the North. Not everything about China negative, but also not everything positive.