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Essay on zheng he voyages
Essay on zheng he voyages
Zheng He's greatest achievements
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Zheng He was a Muslim eunuch who served as a close confidant of the Yongle Emperor of China during the Ming Dynasty. He went on voyages to Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, Persian Gulf, Arabia, the red sea Egypt, and the Mozambique Channel. The number of his voyages vary depending on method of division, but he travelled at least seven times to The Western Ocean with his fleet. The fleet comprised 30,000 men and seventy ships at its height. He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms including King Alagonakkara of Ceylon, who came to China to apologize to the Emperor. Life magazine ranked Zheng He the 14th most important person of the last millennium. In 1405, Zheng was chosen to lead the biggest naval expedition in history up to that time. Over the next 28 years (1405-1433), he commanded seven fleets that visited 37 countries, through Southeast Asia to faraway Africa and Arabia. In those years, China had by far the biggest ships of the time. In 1420 the Ming navy dwarfed the combined navies of Europe. A great fleet of big ships, with nine masts and manned by 500 men, each set sail in July 1405, half a century before Columbus's voyage to America. There were great treasure ships over 300-feet long and 150-feet wide, the biggest being 440-feet long and 186-across, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers. Most of the ships were built at the Dragon Bay shipyard near Nanjing, the remains of which can still be seen today. Zheng He's first fleet included 27,870 men on 317 ships, including sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers, artisans, medical men and meteorologists. On board were large quantities of cargo including silk goods, porcelain, gold and silverware, copper utensils, iron implements and cotton goods. The fleet sailed along China's coast to Champa close to Vietnam and, after crossing the South China Sea, visited Java, Sumatra and reached Sri Lanka by passing through the Strait of Malacca. On the way back it sailed along the west coast of India and returned home in 1407. Envoys from Calicut in India and several countries in Asia and the Middle East also boarded the ships to pay visits to China. Zheng He's second and third voyages taken shortly after, followed roughly the same route. In the fall of 1413, Zheng He set out with 30,000 men to Arabia on his fourth and most ambitious voyage.
On reason we should celebrate is his fleet made incredible distances and destinations, especially for the period of time he traveled in. Zheng He traveled 105,300 total miles in his life. (DOC A) One round trip from Nanjing, his home port in China, to Calicut, one of many destinations he traveled to on his voyages, was a total of 11,600 miles. (DOC A) It took 18,500 total miles to take a round trip from Nanjing to the east of Africa, which was another one of the popular ports that he traveled to. (DOC A) The distance that was
Known for being one of the newest and largest ships at the time, headed high speed through
After this, China shied away from maritime travels and expenses and many records of Zheng He and his voyages disappeared. It was not until the twentieth century that Zheng He started to become an interest again. As so, the significance of his travels could once more be understood by the world. Zheng He’s voyages, put China in the history of oceanic “…exploration, trade, colonization, and exercise of sea power, even if such portrayals took Zheng He out of the context of early Ming history and viewed his voyages from a Western analytical perspective.” (Dreyer, 165). Not to mention, the sheer size of his fleet and treasure ships; which at that time was a massive achievement of its own. Apart from the significance of his fleet and voyages, Zheng He himself also deserves credit for rising so high, as a eunuch who came from humble beginnings.
Although still very inexperienced, in 1497 Vasco da Gama was chosen to lead the first expedition to India. He took four vessels to embark on the journey with him, including his own flagship the St. Gabriel. He chose to sail south along the prevailing winds of Africa in hopes of the journey taking less time than it should. After a few months of his travels, Vasco and his crew arrived at what is now known as Mozambique because the majority of his crew had come down with scurvy. Consequently, they had to reside there for nearly an entire month to rest and repair. Eventually, Vasco and
Accompanied by 27,000 men on 62 large and 255 small ships, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He, led 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, Middle East and east coast of Africa in the span of 28 years during the Ming Dynasty. The scale of Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented in world history. The large treasure ships used during the expeditions were purported to be 440 feet long and 180 feet wide (Dreyer, p. 102). Throughout his travels, Zheng He brought Chinese tea, porcelain and silk products to foreign countries and also brought back exotic goods to the Ming court such as spices, plants and leather. Although his voyages fostered commercial trades and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, the goal of his expeditions stemmed from the political motivation to maintain the tributary system and his voyages had important political implication of causing Neo-Confucian opposition and suspension of the expedition.
everyone talks about how large the ships of the Columbus voyagers were but do some research on the ships from China with their massive sails forward and backward and the 400-600 ft length of the ships and the ships were builted for trips lasting 6-8 months before returning home.
He held the position of commercial and political emissary of Emperor Yongle , he traveled the seas for over 28 years (1405-1433), with its 27,000 men aboard 200 ships, over 50,000 kilometers and visited over 30
The Chinese navy in the early 1400’s was very powerful but unfortunately it grew weaker and weaker over time. The cause of this was that China ran into political problems which prevented future voyages.
The exploration of the West African coast was just a preliminary to the India Trade (Parry, 131). Prince Henry encouraged his explorers to continue making their way further and further down the coastline to gain more intelligence and make more money (Parry, 132). His death in 1460 signaled an end to further exploration for a time, as the mariners had gotten to a point of coast around Benin that was more dangerous to traverse and seek a way through than it was considered worth (Parry, 133). Furthermore, Henry died in debt due to these activities, which discouraged the Crown from spending much on exploration (Parry, 133). Little by little, one small expedition after another, they eventually found the coastline trending south and continued to chart the waters and coastline until war broke out between Portugal and Castile in 1475 (Parry, 134).
Zheng He was a admirable Chinese Muslim, whom led all of the seven voyages of exploration during the Ming Dynasty. Out of all of the remarkable factors, scale was the most present during Zheng He's voyages. Everything ranging from the distances traveled to the fleet size to the ship's measurements was large in scale. Anywhere from forty to thirty ships sailed in each expedition, including fighting ships, storage ships, and large treasure ships measuring more than four hundred feet long. On some voyages the crews numbered over a remarkable twenty-seven thousand. Each crew would be equipped with sailors, soldiers, carpenters, interpreters, accountants, doctors, and religious leaders. One of the ships on Zheng He's he's voyages could be compared
On August 3 that year, he took off from the Spanish port of Paolos with three ships-the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria-, with almost 90 crew members. This trip, never attempted before, needed God on the side of the sailors aboard: Columbus himself, Amerigo Vespucci, and Verrazzano… After six days, he landed on the Canary Islands, where he rested his ships. Columbus sailed southwest, and...
There is a debate whether or not Marco Polo truly went to China. The side that does not believe Marco Polo traveled to China has this view because Marco Polo did not mention the Great Wall. In addition, the Chinese culture was not noted of. Being a foreigner, Marco Polo did not write about these strange things such as foot binding, calligraphy and etcetera. Not only that, but Marco Polo did not catch onto and learn the Chinese language due to the time he was there. Also, Marco Polo was not mentioned or documented about directly in the Chinese writings. However, three Venetians were written about.
Huang Di is a cold-blooded king in the China history, he became the founder and call himself as a yellow emperor in united the Quin Dynasty around 246 BC to 221 BC.Huang di is a powerful figure in Chinese history which open a new revolution in changed economic and political rules.He planned to build a huge construction including a Great Wall and the underground of a huge tomb has many dead people is protect by Terracotta Army that means he buried a live people when they were building his construction.One thing that no one can be dined is the is a cruel emperor with strict policy, violent, brutally,He ruled his country is a dictatorship way with no mercy and and tolerant in a long time in the history.He thought his a son of the god so that
In addition to traveling to known places and wasting resources, Zheng He also killed and enslaved other people, elaborating on the idea that he should not be celebrated. At the time, there were many people who attacked and invaded countries in Eurasia. Zheng He took this opportunity to stop them and win the favor of more countries as a way to display the power of China. Therefore, he killed and captured the invaders, causing more violence. The Changle inscription, located on a pillar in Changle, stated Zheng He killed and captured “barbarian bandits” who “resisted” and “wiped them out”(Document E). While Zheng He was aiming to create “pure and peaceful” sea routes, he only spurred more violence and tension by using force and enslaving people.
In 1497, King Manuel I chose da Gama to lead a voyage, and this was the first time someone had attempted to sail from India to Portugal by sea (history.com). King Manuel I wanted to establish trading alliances, but also wished to label himself as the King of Jerusalem (biography.com) . There were four ships, including the São Gabriel, captained by Vasco da Gama and Pedro de Alenquer. Also, da Gama’s brother led the São Raphael. In addition to those two ships, there was a supply ship and the Berrio (history.com).