Trade and curiosity have often formed the foundation for mankind's greatest endeavour. To people of early civilisations, the world map was a great puzzle. Marco Polo's stories inspired Christopher Columbus and other European explorers to search for sea routes to the distant, wealthy Asian lands. However, long before that brave merchants were the real explorers of the Western Ocean.  

　　It is well known that Africa had contacts with India and the Red Sea civilisations from the earliest times. Silk from China found its way over land along the Silk Road to India, the Middle East and Rome, in exchange for spices and glass. Silk was also traded along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Ceylon, with its central position, was the place where Chinese merchants met with Arab merchants and heard about the westernmost lands. Thus, people of the Han Dynasty knew about Africa and had books with descriptions of the kingdoms on the African coast and the Red Sea. In 97 AD Gan Ying, a Chinese ambassador, went to the East Roman Empire over land and returned to Luoyang with a present from an African king -- rhinoceros horns.

　　 Over the next few hundred years, the Swahili kingdoms and the islands off the African coast developed into the world's trading centre for ivory, spices, rhinoceros horns, shells, animal skins and sugar. They were traded to merchants from the Arabic countries, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Ceylon and China.

　　The Arabic contacts to the African coast led to the next meeting between black people and a Chinese. In the year 751, the Chinese traveller Du Huan was taken prisoner by the Arabic army. He escaped, and after a long journey wandering through Arabic countries, he returned to the motherland by boat in 762. There he wrote his Record of My Travels, which gives information on Central Asian, Arabic and African countries.

　　In the eleventh century, the Africans made several voyages to the court of the Song Dynasty. It was a major development that the Africans were reaching out to China. The earliest Asian cultural relic found in Africa also dates from this period. A small bronze statue of a lion was found in the Swahili town of Shanga. Nothing similar has ever been found in East Africa.

　　 The contacts between China and Africa over the centuries led to the awareness of each other's existence, but still no accurate maps of the countries around the Indian Ocean existed. By the beginning of the fifteenth century the time was ripe for a grand meeting. In East Africa the coastal towns were reaching the height of their power. In the east, China prospered under a new dynasty. The Ming government had a large navy and the will to use it.

　　 In the years between 1405 and 1433, seven large treasure fleets sailed westwards on voyages of trade and exploration. Under the command of Zheng He, the fleets set sail from the South China Sea across the Indian Ocean to the mouth of the Red Sea, and then travelled further south, discovering the eastern coast of Africa.

　　 Zheng He renewed relations with the kingdoms of the East African coast. One African king sent the Ming emperor a royal present: two giraffes. The wonderful gift and the contact with the black court so excited China's curiosity about Africa that Zheng He sent a message to the king and to other African states, inviting them to send ambassadors and open embassies in the new Ming capital, Beijing. The response of the African rulers was very generous. They sent the emperor zebras, giraffes, shells, elephant ivory and rhinoceros-horn medicine. In return, the Ming court sent gold, spices, silk, and various other presents. The exchange of goods had a symbolic meaning far more important than the value of the goods themselves. By trading with the fleet the African kings were showing their friendship to the emperor of China.

　　The fleet made several expeditions before the exploration was stopped, probably for economic reasons. For a short time, China had ruled the seas. After 1433, the Ming court believed that its greatest challenges and opportunities were at home.