AMERICA was nt thenly place where adventurers sailed in searchf excitement and wealth. While the Spanish were cnquering the Aztecs， Incas， and Mayas in America， the Prtuguese went t Africa. Just as Christpher Clumbus was lking fr a rute t India by sailing west， the Prtuguese were als lking fr a way t sail t India and China. They decided t try sailing arund Africa. They didn"t knw fr sure that they culd ever find an end t that cntinent-a way arund-but they wanted t try.
Befre Clumbus gt t America， several Prtuguese explrers sailed suth alng the castf West Africa. They passed the muthf the Senegal River that had been in Mansa Musa"s empire. Then they runded the crnerf the great cntinent and sn came t Benin， an empire in a partf Africa that is nw Nigeria. Benin was ruled by a king called anba and was knwn fr its beautiful artwrk. If yu visit a large art museum， yu can see carvings and statues and ceremnial masks made in Benin. Farther suth still， the ships passed an empire called Kng.ne explrer even gt as far as the very suthern tipf Africa， but then he turned arund and headed fr hme.
Five years after Clumbus left Spain， Vasc da Gama left Prtugal. He finally succeeded in sailing arund that suthern tipf Africa and int the Indiancean. He sailed up the east sidef Africa. Then he traveledn tward India. While he was still in East Africa， he fund wnderful cities that he thught nbdy knew abut.
Way back， in fact， sme Eurpeans had knwn that these cities were there. Greeks and Rmans as well as Egyptians all knew their way t East Africa. Sn after the timef Christ， a Greek guidebk fr sailrs tld hw t get t the different prts and said that ivry， trtise shell， and ccnutil were traded there. During these early years， the twns were small， with perhapsne thusand peple living in them.
Arund 900 A.D.r abutne hundred years after Charlemagne， at a time when very few Eurpeans were ding much traveling and all had frgtten abut East Africa， an Arab gegrapher visited there. He wasn his way hme frm a trip t India and China. He wrte that in East Africa the climate waswarm and the land fertile and that gld and manyther wnderful things were fund there. We knw nw that a ltf traders visited East Africa during thse first thusand years after Christ. Archelgists have fund large numbersf cins frm Persia， Greece， Rme， Arabia， and even India and China there. They have fund piecesf pttery and glassware frm China， India， and Arabia t. The Arabs visited East Africa mst. In fact， smef the Arabs wh went there t trade settled dwn and made their hmes there. Sn the language spken by the Africans had sme Arab wrds mixed int it. Then Arabs began writing that language in Arabic letters. That language is called Swahili. Swahili is still spken all thrugh East Africa.
The mst famus early traveler t visit East Africa was a Muslim frm Tangier， a city in Nrth Africa. His name was Ibn Battuta. He was the Marc Plf the Muslim wrld. In fact， he lived abut the same time that Marc Pl did， in the 1300s. The striesf Ibn Battuta"s travels were written in Arabic， s mst Eurpeans never read them， but he was very famus where peple knew hw t read Arabic.
That Ibn Battuta really gt arund！ He left hme when he was twenty yearsld t gn the pilgrimage t the Muslim hly cityf Mecca. After he gt there， he was having such an interesting time traveling that he didn"t g backCity statesf East Africa ( 东非的城邦 )hme fr twenty-five years. He visited suthern Russia， Persia， India， and Indnesia. And just like Marc Pl， he gt all the way t China. His gal was t g everyplace in the wrld where there were Muslims， and he did.
nef the mst interesting places he visited was East Africa. A ltf the peple there were Muslims. As yu knw， sme were Arabs. Mst were Africans. Smetimes Africans had married Arabs， and their children were a mixturef the tw.
By Ibn Battuta"s time， the trading twns had grwn int cities. They were city states， independent like the earlier Greek city states. Each city had itswn ruler， and each was surrunded by cuntryside where men and wmen farmed. Yu can still visit manyf these cities in East Africa. The cities had names like Mgadishu， Malindi， Mmbasa， and Kilwa. Try saying thse names. They may seem strange at first， but sn they will seem easy t yu.
Ibn Battuta described Kilwa as the mst beautiful twn in the whle wrld. There were funtains and public squares， he said. The main palace wasn a high cliff abve the Indiancean， hadne hundred rms， and an eight-sided swimming pl. Hw wuld yu like t have been a guestf the ruler in Kilwa？
The cities all had prts where large vessels tied up. Arab ships were sixty t seventy feet lng. Even larger ships came frm Persia and India.ccasinally Chinese fleetsf hundredsf huge ships visited the East African prts. Africans sld gld， irn， and ivry in exchange fr silks， glassware， and tls.nce， the cityf Malindi sent a wnderful gift t the emperrf China. Can yu imagine smething-that was nt gld-that the rulerf Malindi might think wuld be a gd surprise fr the wealthy and pwerful Chinese emperr？ Smething that did nt exist in China？ It must have made a big impressinn the Chinese， because they wrte all abut it-and that"s hw we still knw abut this gift. Well， have yu guessed？ It was aThat"s certainly smething they didn"t have in China！
The rulersf thse city states must have been pretty smart becausene thing that they didn"t have muchf was war. There were sme minr squabbles， but mstf the cities didn"t even have large frtificatins except arund the prts. They didn"t think they needed them because they weren"t fighting eachther all the time. This meant that they culd spend all their energyn trade and farming. I"m sure it"sne reasn why these cities were s prsperus.
Eventually， thugh， they were attacked. Then they had a real prblem. Can yu guess what cuntry decided t takever these cities？ I"ll give yu a hint. There was a cuntry that wanted t take cntrlf the trade rutes-that wanted t mve inn the trade with India and China. Well， yu may have guessed it by nw. That cuntry was Prtugal. When the Prtuguese discvered that ntnly was there gld in Africa， but that the East Africans already had the trade with the East that bth Prtugal and Spain wanted， they were ready t mve in.
The Prtuguese came with big gunsn their ships. When a city didn"t just give in t them， they attacked. Mmbasa was cmpletely destryed. All the peple there were killed.
The East Africans knew they culdn"t defeat the big ships and their cannn. S they used anther strategy t get ridf the Prtuguese. They stpped the gld trade. The miners stpped mining gld. The merchants stpped shipping gld. Gradually the prts clsed dwn. The peple frm the cities mved int the cuntryside and became farmers. Nw， the Prtuguese weren"t interested in farms s except fr keeping a few places where their ships culd stp t get fuel and suppliesn the lng vyage t the Indies-they lst interest in East Africa. The peple had lst their cities， but they had wn their peace.
【中文阅读】
美洲不是冒险家们出海寻求刺激和财富的唯一地方。当西班牙人在美洲征服阿 兹特克人、印加人和玛雅人的时候，葡萄牙人去了非洲。就像克里斯托弗 哥伦布 向西航行寻找去印度的航线一样，葡萄牙人也在寻找去印度和中国的航线。他们决 定试试绕非洲航行。他们不大确定是否能够发现非洲大陆的尽头--一条绕过去的 路--但是他们还是想试一试。
哥伦布到达美洲之前，几个葡萄牙探险者沿着西非海岸向南航行。他们经过曾 经是曼沙 穆萨帝国境内的塞内加尔河河口。然后他们绕过大陆的拐角，很快来到了 贝宁。贝宁是一个帝国，在非洲，今天是尼日利亚。贝宁称国王为"奥巴"，以美丽 的艺术品而闻名于世。如果你参观大型艺术博物馆，就可以看见产自贝宁的雕刻品、 雕像和宗教仪式用的面具。他们的船只继续往南，经过一个叫刚果的帝国。有一个探险家甚至到达了非洲的最南端，但是他接着调转船头打道回府了。 哥伦布离开西班牙踏上航程五年之后，瓦斯科 达 伽马也从葡萄牙出发了。最终他成功地驾船绕过非洲最南端，驶入印度洋。他沿着非洲东侧向北航行，然后继续朝印度前行。当他还在东非时，他发现了一些奇妙城市，以为这些城市还没有人 知道。
事实上，很久以前一些欧洲人就已经知道这些城市在那儿了。希腊人、罗马人 和埃及人都知道通往东非的路。在耶稣诞生后不久，希腊有本水手指南手册就讲到 如何到达不同的港口，还说这些港口可以买卖象牙、龟壳和椰子油。在早期那些年， 那里的城镇都很小，大约每个镇子就住着一千多人。
大约公元 900 年，查理曼死后大约一百年，有段时间欧洲人很少出海航行，几 乎忘记了还有东非这个地方，这个时候有个阿拉伯地理学家到了东非。他是在印度 和中国旅行之后回家的路上经过那里。他在书中写道那里气候温暖、土地肥沃，人 们在那里发现了黄金和其他珍稀之物。如今我们知道在耶稣诞生后的一千年间，许 多商人到过东非。考古学家在东非发现了大量波斯、希腊、罗马、阿拉伯的钱币， 甚至还有印度和中国的钱币。他们还发现了中国、印度和阿拉伯的陶器和玻璃器皿 的碎片。阿拉伯人到东非去的最多。甚至，有些去那里做生意的阿拉伯人还定居下 来，在那里安了家。很快，非洲人说的语言中就掺杂了一些阿拉伯语词汇。之后阿 拉伯人开始用阿拉伯字母把这种语言记录下来。这种语言被称为斯瓦希里语。现在 斯瓦希里语还是整个东非的通用语言。
早期游历东非的最出名的旅行者是一个来自北非城市丹吉尔的穆斯林，名叫伊 本 白图泰。他是穆斯林世界的马可 波罗。其实他和 14 世纪初的马可 波罗大约 生活在同一时代。伊本 白图泰的游记故事是用阿拉伯语写成的，所以大多数欧洲人 从未读过，但是在懂阿拉伯语人的地方，他是非常出名的。
伊本 白图泰真的周游了世界！ 20 岁时他离开了家乡去穆斯林圣城麦加朝圣。 到了那里以后，他游兴正浓，一发而不可收，接着就在外游历了二十五年从没回过 家。他去过俄罗斯南部、波斯、印度和印度尼西亚。他和马可 波罗一样，还不远万 里到了中国。他的目标是走遍世界上每一个有穆斯林的地方，他做到了。
他去过的最有意思的地方之一是东非。那里有很多穆斯林。我在前面说过，有 些是阿拉伯人，大多数是非洲人。有时非洲人和阿拉伯人通婚，他们的孩子就是这 两种人的混血儿。
到了伊本 白图泰时代，那些经商小镇已经发展为城市。这些城市都是相互独 立的城邦，就像早期希腊的城邦一样。每一个城市都有自己的统治者，每一个城市 周围都有乡村，男男女女都在那里耕种。现在你还可以到东非这些城市去游览。这 些城市有着像摩加迪沙、马林迪、蒙巴萨和基尔瓦这样的名字。试着念一念这些名 字，开始你也许觉得这些名字有点奇怪，不过重复几次就顺口了。
伊本 白图泰把基尔瓦描述成全世界最美丽的城镇。他说那儿有多处喷泉和公 共广场。城市最大的宫殿在一个很高的悬崖上，俯瞰着印度洋。宫殿有一百间房屋 和一个八角形的游泳池。你想不想去基尔瓦的王宫做客呢？
这些城市都有供大型船舶停泊的港口。阿拉伯的船只长达 60 到 70 英尺。甚至 还有从波斯和印度来的更大的船舶。偶尔数百艘巨型船组成的中国船队也来到东非 的港口。非洲人用黄金、铁和象牙来交换丝绸、玻璃器皿和各种工具。一次，马林 迪城送了一件奇妙的礼物给中国皇帝。你能想象是什么吗--不是黄金哦--马林 迪的统治者也许想给富有强大的中国皇帝一个惊喜，就送了一个中国没有的东西。 这个东西一定给中国人留下了很深的印象。因为他们把这件事的全部经过都写下来 了--我们现在才能知道有这样一个礼物。那么，你猜到了吗？这个礼物就是一头长颈鹿这当然是中国没有的东西了！ 有件事可以说明那些城邦的首脑肯定非常聪明，他们之间很少发生战争。虽然互相有些小的争端，但是除了港口周围之外，大多数城市甚至没有大型防御工事。 他们认为不需要这些东西，因为他们从来不会没完没了地打下去。这意味着他们可 以把全部的精力用在做生意和农耕上。我敢肯定这些城市之所以如此繁荣，这就是 一个原因。
不过最终他们还是遭到了攻击。后来他们真的有了一个难题。你能猜出是哪个 国家想接管这些城市吗？我给你点提示。有个国家想控制这些贸易航线--想要插 手与印度、中国的贸易。好吧，现在也许你已经猜到了。这个国家是葡萄牙。当葡 萄牙人发现非洲不仅有黄金，而且东非人已经和东方国家有了贸易往来，而这正是 葡萄牙和西班牙都向往的，他们就准备插手了。
葡萄牙人随船还运来了枪炮。当一个城市不肯投降的时候，他们就攻城。蒙巴 萨被彻底摧毁了。城里所有的人全被杀害了。
东非人知道他们不可能击败这些坚船利炮，所以他们用另一种策略赶走葡萄牙 人。他们停止了黄金贸易。矿工们不再开采黄金。商人们也不再运送黄金。渐渐地， 港口都关闭了。人们从城市搬到了乡村，成了农民。当然，葡萄牙人对农场不感兴 趣，于是--除了保留几个港口让去印度群岛的船只在长途航行中可以停靠补充燃 料和给养--他们不再留恋东非。东非人失去了城市，但却得到了安宁。