African Chinese on Kenya’s Pate Island
Africans of Chinese descent on Kenya’s Pate Island have Chinese roots with ancient links to Chinese sea explorers and shipwrecks. Mwamaka Sharifu, from Lamu Island off of Kenya's coast is a descendant of Chinese sailors traveling with Chinese explorer Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty.
Kenya’s Pate Island and Chinese sailors
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| Pate Island Family |
The Kenyan coast was a major crossroad in the spice
and slave trading routes of the 15th century. Chinese Ming dynasty Admiral
Zheng He, on his fourth voyage, left China in 1413 arriving off the coast of
Kenya’s Pate Island in 1418.
Admiral
Zheng He, the Ming Dynasty court eunuch whose fleet of 300 ships and 28,000
sailors were the biggest the world had ever known. His ships were said to have
been four times bigger than those of Columbus and his seafaring travels were
greater than any explorer before him.
Pate Island is located in the Indian Ocean close
to the northern coast of Kenya and is the largest island in the Lamu
Archipelago. According to Kenyan folklore, Chinese sailors who survived the shipwreck
swam ashore and were allowed to stay on the Island after killing a python that
had been troubling a village.
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| Pate Villages' dressmaker's shop |
Kenya’s Pate Island Chinese tradition has ancient
links to Africa. On Pate there is an ancient graveyard made out of coral, they
are the graves of the Chinese sailors, which died in the shipwreck.
The graves are the same as Chinese Ming dynasty tombs, complete with half-moon domes and terraced entries. In 2010 Chinese government sent archeologists to the Kenyan coast on a $3-million, three-year mission to dig for artifacts.
The graves are the same as Chinese Ming dynasty tombs, complete with half-moon domes and terraced entries. In 2010 Chinese government sent archeologists to the Kenyan coast on a $3-million, three-year mission to dig for artifacts.
China Girl Mwamaka Sharifu
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| African China Girl |
Pate Island China Girl named Mwamaka Sharifu is
hailed as the most famous descendent of the shipwrecked Chinese sailors. Mwamaka
was rewarded with a scholarship in 2005 to a Chinese university, where she is
studying traditional Chinese medicine.
Sharifu said she admires Zheng's courage
and adventurous spirit. "I was born as brave as my ancestors," she
said. "It is rare for girls in my Muslim village to go so far to study, to
such a big and different country."
Sharifu went on to say "Beijing is a big city," Sharifu added. "But Taicang city will always be a special place for me as it is said it is where my ancestors came from. Located in East China's Jiangsu Province, Taicang is where Zheng set sail for Africa.
Sharifu went on to say "Beijing is a big city," Sharifu added. "But Taicang city will always be a special place for me as it is said it is where my ancestors came from. Located in East China's Jiangsu Province, Taicang is where Zheng set sail for Africa.
[Read next about Living on African Penguin Island]
