Recent findings on the East African coast confirm what many people have suspected for years: Trade between the Chinese and Africans existed long before Europeans stepped foot on the shores of East Africa's West Indian Ocean Coast.  

A number of excavations on the West Indian Ocean coast, otherwise also known as the Swahili Coast, have unearthed Chinese coins that are around 600 years old.

The coins were found in two places on the Kenyan coast: an area known as Mambrui in Malindi town, approximately 575 km southeast of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, and at Manda in Lamu Island, 703 km southeast of Nairobi. The coins were made of copper and had a square hole in the middle, suggesting that they may have been worn on a belt. The name of Emperor Yongle of China is inscribed on the coins; he reigned between 1403 and 1424 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

 Caesar Bita, an excavator working with the National Museums of Kenya, said the unique nature of the Swahili Coast was the reason for the studies that subsequently led to the discovery of the coins. 

This coast is different in the sense that it has magnificent ruins of ancient buildings. It is the only region that has these uniquely Kenyan ruins, though the area itself was home to a blend of cultures that includes the Portuguese, Arabs, Europeans, indigenous peoples and of course, the Chinese.

"These dynamics have attracted researchers from the National Museums of Kenya, along with local and foreign higher learning institutions to undertake studies aimed at understanding the region more," said Bita.

Excavations of the coins in Mambrui involved teams of archaeologists from the National Museums of Kenya and archaeologists from Peking University and the National Museum of China. Others include Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum, and Sloan R. Williams of the University of Illinois in Chicago.

According to Bita, researchers found the first coin at Manda beach in Lamu Island in 2000, while another was found during excavation work in the ancient town of Mambrui in 2010.

Kusima and Williams recently led a joint expedition, spending three months studying the Manda site, where the latest coin was found.

"This finding is significant. We know Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world, but this coin opens a discussion about the relationship between China and Indian Ocean nations," Kusimba, Curator of African Anthropology at The Field Museum, said in a statement. 

Discovery of the latest coin also gives credence to the legendary documented exploits of Zheng He, China's most famous maritime explorer. Zheng was assigned his lengthy expeditions by Emperor Yongle. Between the third year of the Yongle reign period and the eighth year of the Xuande reign period (1433), Zheng led seven great Western maritime expeditions, traversing the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean into the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and reaching as far west as the east coast of Africa. Zheng's vast fleet of ships and navigational technology predated Western maritime explorations.

Bita explained that these findings signify the existence of trade interactions between Chinese and African people centuries ago.

"These coins are an important indicator of the vibrancy of the West Indian Ocean Coast in the historical period in terms of trade," said Bita. "They tell us that we had contact with foreigners many years ago. They also signify that this coast was a major player in international trans-oceanic maritime affairs."

(Reporting from Kenya)