China and Africa: A Cross-Culture Study of Two Kingdoms in the Fifteenth Century

In most history and social studies books used in American elementary and middle schools, the Western point of view is predominant. Not only do the developments in Western nations assume more importance than the others, but most of them contain "implicit assumptions about the universality of Western patterns and standards of measurement." I found this to be the case in many books which I studied, but also found a complete absence of a most intriguing incident connecting the kingdom of China with the kingdoms of East Africa, and this began my realization of the need to bring out this aspect of history to shed new light on world history and development. As a child of the mid-West, I grew up with very little stimulus or information concerning Asia and Africa in my school curriculum. At home I received much stimulus about all countries, and saw how without it one could remain locked in a closed and stereotypical view of other peoples and nations of the world. Recognizing the need to explain more fully the ancient and rich cultures of the non-Western world, I was drawn to the incident before mentioned which linked China and Africa, and thus could be used as a pivot point for discussing the two cultures