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A joint expedition of scientists led by Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum and Sloan R. Williams of the University of Illinois at Chicago has unearthed a 600-year-old Chinese coin on the Kenyan island of Manda that shows trade existed between China and east Africa decades before European explorers set sail and changed the map of the world. The coin, a small disk of copper and silver with a square hole in the center so it could be worn on a belt, is called "Yongle Tongbao" and was issued by Emperor Yongle who reigned from 1403-1425AD during the Ming...

It is not much to look at - a small pitted brass coin with a square hole in the centre-but this relatively innocuous piece of metal is revolutionising our understanding of early East African history, and recasting China's more contemporary role in the region. A joint team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists found the 15th Century Chinese coin in Mambrui-a tiny, nondescript village just north of Malindi on Kenya's north coast. In barely distinguishable relief, the team leader Professor Qin Dashu from Peking University's archaeology department, read out the inscription: "Yongle Tongbao" - the name of the reign that minted...

The National Museums of Kenya has defended archaeological work to locate the ancient settlement of Malindi Kingdom. A press release by the joint Sino-Kenya archaeological team said digging at the ancient sites in Mambrui Village in Magarini District was legal and all procedures had been followed. The head of the Chinese team, Prof Qin Dashu and his Kenyan counterpart, Dr Herman Kiriama of the NMK, said the sites were selected on the recommendations of Kenyan scholars. "The sites are not in the burial sections and the team tried to strictly adhere to Islamic laws where graves are not supposed to...