Why am I so obsessed with the coastal town of Mombasa? A bit of history here...
By 1421, Admiral Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty had sailed the Indian Ocean and reached Mombasa. Legend has it that his man brought back the first giraff to the Emperor as a gift. Trade routes between China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Arabia and East Africa were established. This was an era of greater global cultural exchange between world empires with the exception of Europeans. Vasco da Gama arrives on the scene some seventy years later, but by then China had already changed its focus to domestic affairs. Today, more Africans would know about the Portugese man over the Chinese Admiral. Unfortunately, this part of world history is often untold compared to the latter. Urrgh!
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