Chinese pottery unearthed at Great Zimbabwe proves medieval African empire traded across the Indian Ocean

Archaeologists have identified Chinese pottery at Great Zimbabwe, the stone-walled capital of a medieval Shona kingdom in what is now Zimbabwe. The ceramic fragments date to the 13th-15th centuries and confirm the empire was plugged into Indian Ocean trade networks reaching China, Persia and the Swahili coast. The finds push back against colonial-era claims that the site was built by outsiders — evidence of a sophisticated African state that traded across thousands of miles.

Source: Chinese pottery unearthed at Great Zimbabwe proves medieval African empire traded across the Indian Ocean — Live Science

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