Chapurukha M. Kusimba - China and East Africa : Ancient Ties, Contemporary Flows

China and East Africa

China and East Africa

Ancient Ties, Contemporary Flows

Edited by
Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Tiequan Zhu,
and Purity Wakabari Kiura

LEXINGTON BOOKS

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019952979

ISBN 978-1-4985-7614-7 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4985-7615-4 (electronic)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

We dedicate this book to Ms. Wang Youlin and
Mr. Lu Chung Chun for their commitment to African civilizations
and promotion of the African Studies in East Asia.

Contents

Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Louis De Weyer

Emmanuel K. Ndiema

Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Janet Monge, Allan Morris, Sloan Williams, and Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Herman Kiriama

Ibrahim Busolo Namunaba

Elgidius Ichumbaki

Tiequan Zhu and Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Min Wang, Tiequan Zhu, Khalfan Bini Ahmed, and Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Laure Dussubieux, Gilbert Oteyo, and Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Xinfeng Li

Angela Kabiru

Boyang Ma

Caesar Bita

Zhan Changfa

Augustin F. C. Holl

Figures

Tables

Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Ancient trade between East Africa and Asia was a complex affair that involved many communities and took several routes (Casson 1990; Mitchell 2005; Pearson 2003). For over two millennia, African commodities have been highly desirable in the world. During the same period, Africans have imported and consumed commodities from the rest of the world. Regular bidirectional consumption of African and Chinese products begun during the Tang period has continued to the contemporary times. From the Tang (616907) through the Yuan Dynasties (12711368), the volume of trade between East Africa and China was lower compared to that from Southwest Asia and South Asia largely due to distance factors. Initially, trade between the two regions was predominantly indirectly through the agency of Muslim and Hindu merchants from Southwest and South Asia. There were two principle routes of trade: first, the overland caravan through Central Asia and Southwest Asia via the Persian Gulf and India Ocean (Hansen 2012; Liu and Luo 2004), and second, a direct maritime route through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean via Sri Lanka along the West Indian Seaboard to East Africa via Aden (Jacq-Hergoualch 2002; Miksic 2013).

The destruction of Guangzhou in 878 CE provided an opportunity for expansion and extension of maritime trade (Cho 2009). The growth of settlements like Mantai and Galle in Sri Lanka and Chaul, Khambat, and Gujarat along the west coast of India into major ports of trade illustrates the expansion of maritime trade and the growing economic and political power of Chinese, Hindu, and Muslim merchants. Along with Chinese ceramics and silks reaching Africa were also Indo-Pacific beads, pottery, cloth, jewelry, and foodstuffs (Kusimba 2017, 2018a, 2018b). Chinese artifacts in Syria, India, and East Africa show the reach of these indirect trade routes. These artifacts include whitewares made in Fujian, mainly Ding, qingbai, and molded whitewares, the use of Chinese and Indian coins, and the close similarity of Chinese greenwares.

This book explores SinoAfrica connections in the contexts of globalism and globalization around the following key questions. What do we know about globalism and globalization based on material remains and historical records? How were local communities, such as inland huntergatherers, nomadic pastoralists, and swidden farmers, entangled with regional sociopolitical groups, and trading communities around the world? What power dynamics can be detected and how did these change over time? What were the costs and benefits of participating in globalized social, economic, and political networks? What was the role of ancient chiefly, state, and imperial governments in initiating interregional exchange, integration, and isolation? More broadly, what impacts, if any, did local rivalries and competition have on international trade in the region? Are these detectable and/or even testable in the archaeological record and how do they complement and/or contradict historical records?

Multiple authors in this volume address specific questions such as (a) how and in what ways did political tensions during the Ming Dynasty (13681644 CE) affect Chinas balance and trade with Africa? (b) To what extent did the imperial policy to abolish international engagement affect global trade? and (c) How do we explain the presence of Chinese exports including ceramics, jewelry, and cloth, especially silk, outside China despite the official imperial policy of disengagement with foreign lands?

Archaeologists have documented a sharp decline in the proportion of Chinese ceramics found in shipwrecks and terrestrial sites from that period in Southeast Asia, (Junker 1990, 2008; Niziolek 2011, Niziolek and Junker 2010). In contrast to East Africa, such documentation has yet to be verified. What role did smuggling, black marketeering, and corruption play in redirecting trade between China and the rest of the world? One of our goals of the book is to explore possible avenues through which trade may have continued, especially overland trade between China and West Asia. Does the presence of imperial ceramics in East Africa suggest that diplomatic relationships continued despite the official policy to the contrary? Were there specific ports and kilns in China that were involved in clandestine international maritime trade?