A Short Survey of Chinese African Contacts

Timeline-
200 B.C. to 400 A.D.-

Goods are exchanged between China and Africa.

The two cultures are aware of one another but there is no evidence of direct contact.

400 to 1400-

Arab and Chinese Traders spread out across the Indian Ocean, creating demand for each others goods. African merchants meet Chinese merchants in markets in Ceylon.

1405-Treasure Fleet begins first voyage.

1410- Emissaries from Mogadishu, Brawa, and Mailidi travel to China.

1417-1419- Fifth voyage returns African emissaries. Fleet travels as far south as modern-day Kenya.

1421-1423- Sixth voyage explores southern Africa, may have entered
Atlantic

1431- Final Treasure Fleet voyage

Chinese Contact With Africa

China has a long history of contact with Africa, and goods from the two countries were exchanged by middlemen, from Romans to Arabs, over a period of many hundreds of years. The Golden Age of Chinese/African contact was during the time of the Treasure Fleet, when many African states sent delegations to China, where they paid tribute to the Emperor.

Chinese merchants dealt primarily in porcelain goods, such as bowls, cups, and jars, which were highly prized by Africans. The Swahili tribes of East Africa developed a tradition of decorating their tombs by using China bowls in the walls and ceilings as inlay work. Porcelain artifacts, as well as Chinese coins have been found all along the east coast of the continent, as far south as Madagascar, and even at the ruins of Zimbabwe.

In return, Africans sent exotic hardwoods, such as mangrove, which was highly prized in the timber-poor deserts of China, where it was used for the construction of new buildings. Ivory from Africa was greatly sought-after, because the Chinese considered it easier to carve than Indian ivory. At this time, ivory jewelry became very popular all over China; even palanquins carved from ivory were used by the wealthiest elite. Other African exports included rhinoceros horn, considered to be an aphrodisiac by the Chinese, and frankincense and ambergris, which were made into ointments by Chinese pharmacists.

The Treasure Fleet voyages began in 1405, but it wasn't until about 1410 that Chinese ships began to explore beyond the Arabian Peninsula. At this time a group of emissaries from the city/states of Mogadishu, Brawa, and Malindi are brought to China to pay tribute to the Emperor, where they shower him with rare gifts and exotic animals, such as a giraffe and a few leopards.

The next two voyages, between 1417 and 1423, traveled back to Africa, where they returned the emissaries to their respective homelands and explore further south. There is evidence, in the forms of maps made by Chinese sailors of the Cape of Good Hope, and accounts heard by Europeans of Chinese junks off the coast of Madagascar in the 1400's.

During these visits, Chinese sailors marveled at the half-civilized, barbarian cultures of Africa. They speak of the people of tribes who drank blood, fresh from the punctured jugular of a cow and mixed with milk, a practice still common among the Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya. They marvel at the warlike tribes of Mogadishu who drill constantly and are always at war, and they speak with shock of the promiscuity of drunken Africans who cavorted all day long.

The voyages of the Treasure Fleet came to an end in 1433, and with this came the end of the Golden Age of direct contact between Africans and Chinese, a link that would not be re-established for hundreds of years.