Beyond the Great Wall: When Ming Dynasty sailors made Africa their Home
Friday historical tidbits
Ladies and Sons of Ladies, today, we’re traveling beyond the confines of our beloved Rwanda!! We’re venturing across the Indian Ocean, the home of the renowned Swahili coast running from Kenya to Mozambique, passing by the Comoros Islands!
Waaittt… Why am I even talking about the Swahili coast and not Rwanda?? Well, dear readers, this lil Substack doesn’t not only dive into Rwandan history but also focuses on the greater East African region! As the saying goes, Akanyoni katagurutse ntikamenya iyo bweze (a bird that doesn’t fly will never know where the grains are ripe). In other words, if we stay focused on Rwanda alone, we’ll miss the opportunity to learn from the vastness of the world.
So…..buckle up!!
Way, way, way back in the 1400s, when Europe was healing from the 100 years war between France and England, when the hysteria of the witch hunt was starting to take a hold on the European continent, China aka Zhōngguó under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was busy building its exploration squad to sail across the world‼️
Under the reign of Emperor Yongle, Zheng He, a Muslim born eunuch of the Ming Dynasty rose to power to become an explorer of the empire. Zheng He wasn’t just a sailor, he commanded a fleet of ships with more than 20,000 trained sailors, loaded with silk, porcelain, and spices. His mission? To be China’s emissary to the rest of the world and make friends with other civilizations🌍.
Move over Pitbull, Zheng He is the OG Mr. Worldwide 😂😂.
And guess what? Some of those voyages brought him all the way to East Africa!
Zheng He and his crew hit the East African coast not once but thrice! The first voyage to approach the shores of Africa was his fourth between 1413 and 1415. During this voyage, Zheng He &Co visited Mecca in Saudi Arabia and continued their journey to Egypt. Departing from Egypt, they sailed along shores of Somalia, Kenya and almost reached Mozambique‼️ They landed along the Swahili coast, in places like Mogadishu (Somalia), Malindi and Lamu, now in modern-day Kenya. It was during this voyage that the Sultan of Malindi (Kenya) established diplomatic relations with Ming China in 1414!
Upon his return, Zheng He brought giraffes, ivory, and incense that he had bought from Somali merchants in Mogadishu! According to the surviving Ming Dynasty Annals, once the emperor saw the giraffe, the man was so shocked that he thought the animal was the mythological Chinese beast, the Qilin 😂. Hence, Emperor Yongle requested the court to paint the giraffe, hehehe.
For his fifth voyage (1417-1419), he revisited the East African coast, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, and Southeast Asia. On his return home after the sixth voyage, his sponsor, Emperor Yongle, died and his successor, Emperor Hongxi wasn’t cool with the naval expeditions, as he deemed them wasteful😢💔. So, our guy, Zheng He, quietly took his L in peace and moved on with his life.
Enter Emperor Xuande who commissioned the seventh and last voyage between 1431 and 1433. Taking the same route, Zheng He and his crew sailed across the Indian Ocean. During this trip, they encountered a storm and one of the ships hit a reef, capsizing in the ocean💔. The survivors? they managed to swim and found shelter on an island on the Swahili coast.
Fast forward 600 years later, in Shanga village on Pate Island, part of the Lamu archipelago, archeologists and anthropologists stumbled upon a mad discovery: a group within the Pate community that carried distinct East Asian features, Asian customs (Chinese style tombs positioned towards the northeast - China), and held onto Ming Dynasty porcelains and coins as family heirlooms!!
To confirm their discovery, a team composed of Chinese and Kenyan researchers sailed to Pate island for genetic testing and archeological excavation. Indeed, the genetic results confirmed what the naked eye had seen! This community shared the majority of their genome with mainland Chinese🧬, concluding that these people were DIRECT descendants of Zheng He’s lost sailors!! YEP, turns out that the surviving sailors did not hitch a ride back home but decided to stay. Was it the best idea? No one knows but it was probably their only solution - to blend in with the local population and make the island their home.
Today, this group in Kenya has been recognized by the Chinese government as part of the larger Chinese community after the story became a sensation in mainland China with many documentaries, and news coverages.
Specifically, one girl gained stardom by leaving Pate Island to pursue her education in China. Sharifu Mwamaka became Kenya’s Chinese girl! The girl who braved all odds to return to her ancestral land. Was it a coincidence that she pursued her tertiary education in Nanjing, China, the very same port city that was the naval base of Zheng He and his men🧐🧐?
My people, long before Vasco da Gama and his European buddies “discovered” Africa and set up shop👀, our continent was already part of the global network chilling with other civilizations through trade, diplomacy and cultural exchange‼️
Zheng He and his crew might be lesser known or even erased from the mainstream history, but that’s no accident. WHY? Because their voyages weren’t conquests, they came bearing gifts, knowledge and friendship, building bridges between civilizations🌍🤝.
Zheng He’s legacy is proof that so much history is hidden in plain sight, waiting to be uncovered, told and celebrated.
It’s high time we reclaim our forgotten heritage and tell our stories on our own terms.
📜 NEXT:
Monday 07/7 - Mibambwe II Gisanura: a saint walking among men