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Tuo Tuo (1238-1298) (Sung Shi)
(History of the Sung Dynasty)
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Taken from; Philip Snow; The Star Raft
Teobaldo Filesi; China and Africa in Medieval Times.
W.W. Rockhill; Toung Pao 1914
www.africanfront.com
www.colorq.org
Hirth and Rockhill: Chao Ju Kua
Yuan180
In 1248 we hear that the censor Ch'en Ch'iu-lu attributed the drain of cash out of China to the extravagance of its people in purchasing such luxuries as perfumes, ivory, and rhinoceros horns, and to the sea-trade generally.
Yuan 186, 18b-19a
In the 4th year k�ai-pao (AD971) a Merchant shipping office was established at Canton, and later on offices were also established at Hang-chou and Ming-chou. All Ta-shih (Arab) and foreigners from Ku-lo, She-p�o (Java), Chan-ch�eng (Annam), P�o-ni (Borneo), Ma-i (Philippines) and San-fo-ts�i (Palembang) exchanged at these places for gold, silver, strings of cash, lead, tin, colored silks and porcelain-ware, their aromatics, rhinoceros horns, tusks of ivory, coral, amber, strings of pearls, steel, turtles� shells, cornelians, ch�ih-k�u shells, rock crystal, foreign textile fabricks, ebony, sapan wood, etc. In the Emperor Tai-tsu�s time (960-976) a Licence office was established at the capital, and orders were given that the foreign aromatic drugs and high priced goods brought to Canton, Kiao-chih, the Liang Che and to Ch�uan-chou should be deposited in the governmental godowns, and that all private trading in pearls, tortoise-shell, rhinoceros horns, ivory, steel, turtles� shells, amber, cornelians and frankincense outside of the official markets was forbidden. All objects not included in the above list might be freely dealt in by the people.
Yuan 405
In 1194 we read of Wang Chu-an, then governor of the Hsing-hua military district in Fu-kien, refusing to allow the people under his jurisdiction to go beyond its borders to trade with foreign people whose many ships coming from abroad laden with aromatics, rhinoceros horns, ivory and king-fishers' feathers were already draining all the copper cash out of the land.
Yuan 490,16b
Again in 995 a tribute mission arrived under the "ship master" P'u-ya-t'o-li, who deputed P'u-hi-mu (Abu Hamid) again to offer his tribute to court. During the audience the emperor enquired about his country, when he stated, among other details, that it was conterminous with Ta-ts'in, which, being a dependency, was now governed by his native country. Then on the request of the emperor follows the story on how rhinos and elephants are hunted.
Note: This country must have been Persia, which through the Abbasid-Caliphs was ruling the Arabs and through its harbor Siraf had close relations with East-Africa. This story is also found in Chao-Ju-Kua.
Yuan 490,20b-21a
Ts'ong-t'an ( or Tsang-d'an) (or Zengdan (land of the blacks)) is on the southern ocean. The town is twenty li (six or seven miles) from the sea coast. In the fourth year hi-ning (1071) it brought presents to our court for the first time. Traveling by sea and with a favorable wind, the envoy took a hundred and sixty days. He passed by Wu-sun (Sohar in Oman) Ku-lin (Quilon) and San-fo-ts'i ( Palembang in Sumatra) and came to Kuang-chou. The ruler of the country was named A-mei-lo A-mei-lan (from persian amir-I-amiran meaning: prince of princes). They had ruled the country for 500 years or 10 generations. The language sounds like that of the Arabs (Ta-shi). The climate is warm all the year. The wealthy people wear turbans of yue-(no) stuff and clothes of flowered brocade, or of po-tie cloth. They go forth riding elephants or on horseback. They have official salaries. According to their laws light offenses are punished with the bamboo, serious crimes with death.
Of cereals they have rice, millet and wheat. For food they eat fish. Of animals they have sheep, goats, buffalo, water-buffalo, camels, horses, rhinoceros and elephants. Of drugs they have putchuck, dragon's blood, (a product of the shrub Dracaena) myrrh, borax, asa-foetida, frankincense. Of products, pearls, glass (p'o-li), (these three he might have required en route) and three kind of drinks called mi (Persian, mei, wine) sha (Arab-Persian, sharab, sherbet) and Kua (?). In commercial transactions they use coins made by the government only , three part are of gold and copper in equal proportion , the fourth of silver. The people are forbidden coining them themselves.
In the sixth year Yuan-fong (1083) the envoy Pau-shun-lang-tsiang Ts'ong-k'ei-ni came again to court. (some writers translate this as :Lord Guardian of Prosperity and the last three characters as the Zanj, in resent articles the translation reads the envoy Zengijani) The emperor Shou-tsung, considering the very great distance he had come, besides giving him the same presents which had been formerly bestowed on him, added thereto 2,000 ounces of silver.
Yuan 490
In the second year of Tai-ping Hsing Kuo (AD 977) Arabia sent the ambassador Pu-sze-na, the vice-ambassador Mo-ho-mo (Mahmud), and the judge Pu-lo, with the products of their country as presents. Their attendants had sunken eyes and black skin and they were called Kun-lun-nu
(entry for the year 960 AD) In the country of Sarbeza (San-fo-ts'I) (Palemban) (Sumatra), for music, they have a small guitar and small drums. K-un. tun slaves (Kouen-loue-nou) make music for them by trampling on the ground and singing.
The Sung annals (Sung Shi?) relate that between 1049 and 1053 the annual import of ivory, rhinoceros horn, pearls and other products amounted to over 53,000 units of currency, and that in 1115 the annual total rose to 500,000.
Shih-huo chih (part of the Sung-shih) (The records of economy and finance)
Taken from: Chinese Sociology and Anthropology By Inc M.E. Sharpe, International Arts and Sciences Press Vol IX fall 1976-summer 1977. Studies on a Sung Dynasty seagoing vessel.
Also repeated in; Sung hui-yao chi-kao (11th-13th documents collected by Hsii Sung et al. in the 19th c.).
Yuan 8 � Hu �shih po fa:
In the third year of the Ch'ien-tao reign period (AD1167), on the first day of the tenth month, the shih-po-ssu of Fukien Circuit said: �A merchant leader of this locality, Ch�en Ying, and the others arrived in Chan- ch'eng [Champa] yesterday. Their [ie, Champa's] chief said: "We intend to send an envoy and vice envoy to reveren-tially present tribute to T�ai-tsung: frankincense, elephant tusks, and others. Now, (Ch�en) Ying and his companions have five vessels which, in addition to the goods they have bought for themselves will carry [our] frankincense elephant tusks etc. We will also send an envoy, and a vice envoy and others. Subsequently, a merchant leader, Wu Ping, and others came to Chan-ch�eng by boat. �Their chief �Chou-ya-na prepared an inventory of what they were to present; White frankincense, 20,455 chin; mixed frankincense, 80,295 chin; elephant tusks, 7,795 chin; aconitum sineuse and garu-wood, 237 chin; garu-wood,990 chin; garu-wood heads (?) 92 chin, 8 liang; chien-hsiang-t'pu 255 chin; chia- nan-mu hsien-hsiang (ambergris), 301 chin; huang-shu hsiang (tortoise shell) 1780 chin. An imperial prescript dispensed the envoys' trip [to China], and ordered a Ch'uan-chou official to be deputed.
Note: The author in a footnote adds that Frankincense came from Arabia and Ambergris from East Africa. And everything else from South East Asia.
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In the Sung-shih we have for the first time mentioned the minting of coins on the East African coast.
This is a link to a Medieval coin from Mogadishu.
If you fill in on that web page the numbers of the coins here given (one by one) you will find Medieval coins from Kilwa :17646 / 17645 / 17644 / 17643 / 17642 / 17640 / 7581
There is a website where massively the coins of East Africa are shown.
-179 Coins of Kilwa
-2 Coins of Zanzibar
-55 Coins of Mogadishu
This link brings you to the search page of the museum where you type (on the right top) Kilwa or Mogadishu or Zanzibar to see the collection of medieval coins minted in those three places.