On the Antiquity of Southern Africa – China Interaction

Abstract

Without doubt, in the 21st century, China eclipsed the West to become the African continent’s biggest trading partner. What however, is the antiquity and deep history of Sino-African trade and exchange relationships? Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that regions such as East Africa had over one thousand years of direct and indirect interaction with China (Casson 1989; Chaudhuri 1990; Chami 1998; La Violette 2008; Fleisher 2010; Kusimba 2016). Therefore, contrary to popular narratives in western historiography, China had been to Africa before Vasco da Gama. What is less emphasised in Eurocentric versions of the past is that between 1405 and 1433 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in Imperial China, Zheng He conducted imperial adventures that landed him in East Africa some time before Vasco da Gama (Abraham 2015; Dashu 2018; Kusimba 2018; Levathes 2014). In 1418 Zheng He commanded a giant fleet of more than 62 ships ferrying 37,000 soldiers across the Indian Ocean (Abraham 2015; Levathes 2014). Even before Zheng, historical evidence suggests that multi-directional contact had taken place between the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, the Persian Gulf, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and various communities on the East African coast and the Indian Ocean Islands (Casson 1989; Chaudhuri 1985; Crowther et al. 2014; Hawley 2008). This set-in motion an earlier form of globalisation pivoted on the Indian Ocean rim, and where Europe featured little (Chirikure 2014, 2019).Consequently, pivoting the center of global history on Europe, as was previously the case is not only inappropriate but has stunted the flourishing of research into the deep history of connections that predate the dominance of Europe in other parts of the world. Not surprisingly, the last two or so decades have witnessed increased and successful attempts to re-write global history, away from a Eurocentric point of view to one that acknowledges the contribution of others, particularly