Archaeological discovery proves Zheng He's fleet once visited Africa

A Kenyan archaeological team has unearthed the remains of a human with Chinese ancestry. He was more than six hundred years old. This means that more than 600 years ago, ancient Chinese people came to Africa.

This is the first time the archaeological team has found human remains of an ancient person with Chinese blood in East Africa. Using carbon-14 technology, the scientists determined that the remains lived at a time that coincided with the arrival of Zheng He's treasure ship to Africa.

The location is on Manda Island in Kenya. Since 2012, the local team has been working with a multinational archaeological team to witness the great moment. This archaeological discovery confirms that a fleet of Ming Dynasty ships came to Africa. Zheng He's ships did come to the East African coast.

The bones of the Ming dynasty with Chinese ancestry also came from this island. Although no burials were found in the tombs where the remains were unearthed, a number of Chinese ceramics and currency were found on the island. The archaeology has brought Zheng He's voyages to the public's attention.

During Zheng He's seven voyages, he visited a total of 36 countries. The first three times almost all reached Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, and other Southeast Asian countries. The farthest they reached was India.

On his fourth voyage, Zheng He's fleet circumnavigated the Arabian Peninsula and sailed for the first time to Malindi in East Africa. At that time Malindi's envoy also came to the Ming Dynasty to offer giraffes.

The fifth time to the Western Ocean, Zheng He fleet through the Champaign, Java, and once again arrived in East Africa's Mubo Dusho, Lava, Malindi, and other places.

Zheng He's sixth voyage was to bring home diplomats from other dynasties. The seventh voyage was similar to the previous five, visiting many coastal dynasties.

In general, Zheng He's voyage was not a fair trade voyage. It was a voyage to demonstrate the power of the Ming dynasty. The political purpose of the voyage was stronger than the trade purpose. Therefore, after the Ming Dynasty became weak, Zheng He stopped sailing after the 7th voyage. So you can find out about African history in the Ming Dynasty History.