This doesn’t prove squat about the Chinese being in Africa... it only proves that a Chinese coin was in Africa. Coins travel great distances from one hand to the next; it may have taken a hundred transactions for this coin to get from China to Africa.
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So true. The presence of that one coin proves nothing.
However, are you of the belief that the Chinese did not make it to the west coast of Africa pre-Renaissance?
Not particularly. I don't know enough about the history and pre-history of that part of the world to have formed an opinion on the matter.
It was either a result of Zheng He's expedition, or trade and exchange of hands, etc.
Did you guys know that, IIRC, Zheng He's expedition was sparked by the curiosity brought about by the Arab traders, hugging coastal waters past India and on around Siam, up the coast to China an Korea? That contact with these traders caused the Chinese to become curious?
The Chinese sent out Zheng He to reverse-engineer the course, find out what was back there (Saudi Arabia? Africa? India?) Good thing the Chinese later saw little point in all that wasteful spending and abandoned the project. (Any parallel to American space program cut by Obama?)
Don't believe me?
1. Korea has Muslims, brought about by contact centuries ago with the Muslims.
2. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world. Brought about by contact centuries ago with the Muslims.
3. The Phillippines also has a Muslim population.
Yep, Muslim traders hugged the coastline and made it that far.
Muslim traders also hugged the coasts and brought trade down the east coast of Africa to the Africans in those areas. Likely also gave them the alphabetic script they use as well.
It's possible that the Chinese coin in E. Africa came from the Chinese, tracing back the route of the evil greedy 1% banksters...uh, sorry, too much TV.
Sauron (You get the picture. History is fascinating!)