Pillar tombs in Kaole ruins
These are located 5 km south of Bagamoyo, on the coastal side. It consists of the ruins of two mosques and a series of about 30 tombs, some of the tombs have stone pillars of up to 5m in
height.
These are thought to mark one of the earliest contacts of Islam with Africa. They were constructed from coral. A pillar tomb near Bagamoyo (Kaole) was decorated with sea-green bowls of the Yuan
period, exactly contemporary with the description of Wang Ta-yuan.
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Wang Dayuan (1328-1339)
Daoyi Zhilue
(Island Savages)
---------------------------------
Taken from ; W.W. Rockhill; Toung Pao 1915
(except when otherwise noted.)
Also called Wang Ta-Yuan (Tao-I chih-lueh)
Wang Dayuan made two trips from Quanzhou on Chinese ships. In 1328-1333 he visited Luzon & Mindanao
in the Philippines, many places in Southeast Asia, Sir Lanka and India, and reached Dhofar and Aden. In 1334-1339 he went to Aden, and joined Arab ships to visit north Africa (reaching the
Atlantic coast of Morocco) and East Africa (including Mogadishu, and Kilwa in Tanzania).
This Chinese flask was found in about 50 pieces on the bottom of a well in excavations in the medieval city of Kilwa. It is kept in the Dar es Salaam museum and became so well known that every history book about East Africa carries its picture. It was imported into Kilwa about the time of Wang Dayuan's visit.
Wang Dayuan sailed a small wooden boat to the coast of East Africa. The gold, red sandalwood, ivory, and other exotic materials he brought back to the Middle
Kingdom piqued the interest of the Chinese court.
His book includes details on cultures, navigation, and commerce. He describes or mentions more than a hundred ports and cities. Indian cotton fabrics were popular in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Chinese ships were delivering colored satin, blue and white ceramics, and ironware to Quilon and Mogadishu; Suzhou (4) and Hangzhou (5) silks to Aden, etc, and were also engaged in entrepot trade
of sappanwood, rice, cloves, cardamon, cotton fabrics, ironware etc.
Chinese porcelain, mostly from Jingdezhen ,was shipped and marketed to more than 40 countries and regions as far as Africa. Jingdezhen also specially made ceramics for export to
Africa.
He also talks about a flourishing entrepot trade between India and the Mediterranean that was run by merchants from Karami in Egypt, and Muslims dominated an East African trade in gold, ivory and
slaves. Promising import items included Aceh horses, cheap Malabar rice, Calicut pepper, ambergris and gold ore from Malindi, and cobalt resin from Mogadishu.
.
Daoyi Zhilue
In 1330, Wang Da Yuan was only twenty years old: he boarded a commercial
deep ocean ship and set sail from Quan Zhou (2) returning in summer/ autumn of 1334.....crossed Indian Ocean back to Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Java, then to Australia, from Australia to Kalimantan (3),
through the Philippines Isles and finally to Quanzhou.
In 1337, Wang Da Yuan embarked the second time from Quan Zhou and returned to Quan Zhou (2) two years later.
The country is at the southwest corner, called Xiaoshi. The governmental quarter is deeply located behind a cliff and safely guarded by it; at the back is a cave, around which the land is densely populated. The soil is waterlogged and the field fertile. There is a stream running across the country, which has a floodgate before it ends in the sea. The floodgate will be lifted in spring or in case of drought to irrigate the field, and closed in the rainy season. People are free from the danger of floods and droughts, and the rulers are enjoying sustainable harvest. As a result, its called a paradise. The climate is regular. A pristine custom is maintained, and people, either men or women, bind their hair like Chinese kids and wear black turbans. (People) boil seawater for salt, brew leaves for wine, roast lamb for feast. Yellow wax is a natural resource here, and sheep are as tall as 4 chis (1chi ? 1 foot). Pineapples are as big as a keg, melons has a perimeter of 3-4 chis. Popular goods include linen, silk of various colors, brocade, copper cauldron, red waxed cloth and so on.
(Country not yet identified can be in Southern Somalia during the Ajuran Sultanate. Many of the ruined fortifications and ruined cities dotting the landscapes of southern Somalia today are attributed to the Ajuran Empire's engineers. They monopolized the water resources of the Shebelle and Jubba rivers. Through hydraulic engineering, it constructed many of the limestone wells and cisterns of the state that remain in use today. The rulers developed new systems for agriculture, irrigation and taxation. They brought the empire to its peak of prosperity.)
Ma-na-li
Fan community (=tribute paying) southeast of li-zhi-dong, a distant and isolated island, …. surrounded all by water. There are oyster beds who grow on the mountain rocks. Few people had ever come to visit Manali. The earth is infertile the land is barren, the climate is uneven. The natives love decorating themselves. Men and women plait their hair tied with strings. They use golden bracelets, The natives are said to be wearing short-sleeve shirts made of colorful silk and one-piece skirts made of Bengal cloth. The local camel, nine feet high, the locals have it carry a heavy load. This land has immortal cranes, more than six foot tall, eating stones. On hearing the beats of clapping hands, they outstretch their wings and dance. Their dancing performance is absolutely majestic. They are indeed some incredibly curious birds!
Taken from: A History of Overseas Chinese in Africa to 1911 By Li Anshan
Jia Jiang Menli 加将门里 (Quelimane – Mozambique)
(1)
Traveling through the two thousand miles of Jia Li, I saw dense forests of trees and bamboos. The land is rich, with three harvests of crops every year. Men and women roll their hair up and dress in long shirts. Various Muslims live here. Its local merchants frequented Peng Jia La (Bengal) carrying Hei Nan (Black Children). Their coins are made to fit in size with the normal bargains. The people use sea salt, and make alcohol from sugarcane. They have chiefs (or emirs). They possess ivory, dou-luo-cuan, cloth.
Trade of goods in Suzhou (4) and Hangzhou (5) colored satin, north and south silk, tu-you silk, Wu-lun-bu-zhi-shu.
Note: This place is everywhere on Chinese websites called Quelimane, as they however sell black children in Bengal maybe a place in Indonesia will do.
The paragraphs under have way more chance to be located in Africa, all authors tend to agree on it and they are close together at the end of the book)
Li-ch'ieh-t'a (supposed to be on the Berbera coast)
This kingdom is in the extreme western part of the world, but the king lives on the sea coast. The land is poor, glutinous millet (durah) is raised on it. The people make their dwellings with tiers of stones. They excavate the earth to a depth of over ten feet to store the grain in, and it will keep for three years without rotting. The climate is hot in the autumn and cool in the summer. The customs are simple. Men and women are long and lank and of strange appearance. Their hair is two inches long, and does not seem to get longer. They wear pu-t'ung garments with a black sarong tied around them. They boil sea-water to make salt, and ferment glutinous millet (durah) to make spirits. They live on cow's milk. Among the local products is the ch'ing-lang-kan coral-tree. This tree is from over ten feet to seven or eight or even only one foot in height. In autumn and winter the people go in boats to gather it. To a wooden cross-pole they fasten a net with strings attached to it above. Then they fasten ropes at both ends of a wooden (cross-pole), and the men in the boats haul it along cutting off the trees which are pulled up in the net. The goods used in trading are silver, colored satins, Wu-lun cotton cloth, and such like things.
This country is to the south-west of the Ta Shih (Arabs). There are no trees on the coast; most of the land is saline. The arable ground is poor, so there is but little grain of any kind, and they mostly raise yams to take its place. If any ship going there to trade carries rice as cargo, it makes very large profits. The climate is irregular. In their habits they have the rectitude of olden times. Men and women twist up their hair; they wear a short seamless shirt. The occupation of the people is netting birds and beasts for food. They boil sea-water to make salt and ferment the juice of the sugar cane to make spirits. They have a ruler. The native products comprise red sandal-wood, dark red sugar-cane elephants' tusks, ambergris, native gold, ya-tsui tan-fan (lit. duck-bill sulfate of copper). The goods used in trading are ivory boxes, trade silver, colored satins, and the like.
Note: 8000lis are about 4000km. The capital of Dashi is Baghdad. Four thousand kilometres south of Baghdad is the northern part of Mombasa, where there is a river named Galana. (Most authors however think this country is Marocco and the name a transliteration of the ruling dynasty.)
Lo-p'o-ssu, (supposedly on the Berbera coast.)
This country is adjoining the mountains to the right (the west) of Ma-kia-na (8). A weird-looking peak rises aloft in shape like a phantom horse dashing away. This locality is situated close to the sea. Males and females are strange looking. They do not weave, and they have no clothing; they cover their bodies with birds' feathers. They do not use fire in preparing their food, but the skin (and all), and drink the blood. They nest in caves, and nothing more. But though their food and lodgings are primitive it matters not. Silk, fine and coarse hemp, the succession of cold and heat, can they not be disregarded? What are the differences in climate a thousand li (6) to the north and south of the Lo (river) compared to those of the miserable countries in the Ocean. This country is scorching hot, so the inhabitants need not be concerned at not having any clothing, and they naturally follow the moving chariot of space and time. No wonder they gobble their food, that they do not choose their nesting places, and that they are not concerned with trade; it is the paradise of remote antiquity.
(1) Jia Jiang Menli 加将门里 (Quelimane – Mozambique)
加将门里 corrected into 加捋门里
jia jiang men li corrected in jia lu men li.
If this identification is correct, we have important, unique information here not found in other Chinese or Arab work. However no information has been found that proves that Quelimane was an important trading place from that early a date.
Taken from: The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche by M. D. D. Newitt
The Journal of African History Vol. 13, No. 3 (1972), pp. 397-406
According to the traditions recorded by Eduardo do Couto Lupi (in Angoche 1907), Angoche, Quelimane and Mozambique were founded by a group of refugees from Kilwa shortly before the arrival of Vasco da Gama on the coast in 1498, though at each place there was an earlier Muslim community already established. The two leaders of the refugees were Mussa and Hassani, who settled at Mozambique and Quelimane respectively. While on a visit to Mozambique, Hassani died and was buried on Mafamale Island off the mouth of the Angoche River. His friend Mussa came to visit the grave and decided that Angoche was a more favourable locality than Quelimane and installed Hassani’s son, Xosa, at Angoche as sultan.
(2) Quanzhou, is a port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China.
(3) is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo.
(4) a city west of Shanghai
(5) is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay.
(6) Li: a Chinese mile, now standardised at 500m. (Has historically fluctuated between 323m and 645m)
(7) =Arabs
(8) In the article: Note sur les anciens itinéraires chinois dans l'Orient romain (M. P. PELLIOT) is found: The only topographical indication of the text is that this country is contiguous to the mountains which lie to the west of Ma-kia-na. Ma - kia - na can correctly represent a toponym such as Makala. Now, there is on the southern coast of Arabia, east of Aden, a port of Makalla or Makalla which is well known to us elsewhere. Ibn Majid quotes it in a nautical poem dated 1462. The Nautical Instructions on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (1885) say that Makalla is the principal commercial city on the south coast of Arabia (p. 336); that there is a very considerable trade there with Madagascar and East Africa north and south of the equator, which I myself have witnessed.