Barry Streek
Chinese explorers travelled to Southern Africa 150 years before their European counterparts were able to find a sea route to East Asia, National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala told a conference in Japan this week.
The Chinese connection has been demonstrated by a map drawn by Ming cartographer Ch’uan Chin in 1402 at the request of the Korean envoy to China, revealing a detailed knowledge of the interior of Southern Africa.
The 600-year-old map was safeguarded in a Buddhist temple in Honganji in Japan before being donated to Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Ginwala told a Tokyo International Conference for African Development ministerial-level meeting in Tokyo this week.
The Map of Historial Emperors and Kings, one of the earliest maps showing the entire African continent, was displayed at the conference.
Ginwala said it was “symbolic of the longstanding and often unrecognised relationship that exists between the peoples of Africa and Asia”.
She said the map was taken from Korea by the army of the Japanese military leader Hideyoshi Toyotomi and given to the Buddhist temple in Honganji.
“The South African Parliament became aware of the existence of this and other early maps after research was conducted for our parliamentary millennium project. The Japanese government located the map for us and has presented our Parliament with a copy, which will be displayed in South Africa next year,” Ginwala said.