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kbin_space_program@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

They didnt have to sail to Africa per say.
By the time of those trips, there had been a reliable trade network for more than 1500 years stretching from Africa up through the Middle East into India.

I don't doubt that it'd be possible to harbour hop those boats down to Africa, but they only needed to go as far as India/Persia to connect.

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KevonLooney@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
They did sail to Africa. It’s well documented in primary and secondary sources. They made a map with Africa on it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Kun_map

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- kbin_space_program@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yes, but there is still doubt:
  
  It has also been suggested by J.J.L. Duyvendak and Paul Pelliot that the map may have been partly based on Arab nautical charts.[10]
  
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