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As we all know, in the history of human beings, navigation once appeared two important events; Zheng He’s voyages in the Indian Ocean and Christopher Columbus voyage in the Atlantic Ocean. Both of them had great impacts on the development of human being’s navigation, economy, politics, cultures and even all aspects of human civilization. This short paper will include the comparison between Zheng He and Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus voyage centered around one purpose, which was to find out a shorter route to the Asian countries. Instead of finding Asia, he found the “New World.” During Columbus’s time, trade between Europe and Asia was extremely lucrative. Spices were very important in Europe at the time. They were used for flavoring
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food, but also for preserving it at a time when there was no real way to refrigerate food. The spices that Europeans wanted so badly could only be found in Asia. Therefore whoever controlled trade with Asia could make tremendous amounts of money. The results of Columbus travel is that he actually landed in the Bahamas, and his journey sparked interest in what would later be confirmed as the “New World.” The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain.
He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he accidentally stumbled upon the Americas.
Many people are surprised to learn that Christopher Columbus and his men enslaved native inhabitants of the West Indies, forced them to convert Christianity, and subdued them with violence in an effort to seek riches.
The doctrine of discovery is a legal principle which has passed from Church law into common law. It granted the European discovering powers a kind of unrestricted sovereignty over the lands and people they discovered. It began with a series of papal bulls issued by Pope Nicholas V and Pope Alexander VI before and just after Christopher Columbus returned from his first contact with the Americas.
Zheng He voyage’s reason seemed a little bit complex. The purpose of Zheng He travel was to command several fleets, Chinese ships that explored and traded across Asia and Africa. His expeditions greatly expanded China’s
trade. The results of Zheng He travel noted that Zheng He helped spread the advanced Chinese culture and civilization to the outside world. Yao said that at the time various countries and regions in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa lagged behind China in many aspects. China’s advanced knowledge and skills in navigation, oceangoing ship building, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, leechcraft and meteorology, as well as its Confucius ideology were shared with other nations. The people Zheng He met felt very comfortable. The people gave him goods for his trip back to China. Zheng He and his crew received a warm welcome wherever they voyaged. Zheng was addressed respectfully as Sanbao. Some countries and places Zheng He visited have retained various momentos and legendary tales of his exploits. An example is the Sanbao Temple in Thailand, Sanbao Caves in Indonesia, Zheng He’s statue in India and Zheng He villages in Somalia and Kenya. In conclusion, Zheng He and Christopher Columbus were great explorers. Even though growing up a lot of people wasn’t taught the real truth. Now when we look at it, many of us are very shocked to learn new information about them. I really enjoyed comparing Zheng He and Christopher Columbus.
Zheng He had a fleet that contained 255 ships, compared to Columbus’s 3 ships. (DOC B) Zheng He also had 27,500 crew members compared to Columbus's 90 members. (DOC B) Not only is the amounts amazing in comparison but also the fact that Christopher Columbus was about 100 years after Zheng He and they had even more advancements in technology than Zheng He. So we can say that at least in terms of scale Zheng He had a bigger, by far, amount of ships, and a huge amount of crew members compared to the well recognised Christopher
When comparing the Chinese and Western historical development, the similar key events would have very different outcomes due to their different backgrounds. During the fifteenth century, Zheng He was commissioned to lead the “treasure ships” for seven voyages down the Western Seas. And, Prince Henry sent expeditions to explore the western coast of Africa. China and Portugal, the both ends of the Eurasian continent, almost simultaneously began marine navigations. They have shared some similar features, but there are actually major differences between the two. This paper will compare and contrast these two remarkable explorers. The focus will be on the ideas and circumstances that influenced their actions, and their importance in shaping history.
Not only did he explore a variety of lands he also brought things back creating trade routes throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. As Zheng He returned from his voyages he brought back goods and much tribute. We can see how Zheng He explored many lands as shown on the map in document A. We can also see that his voyages were long and did go up to 19000 miles’ roundtrip per voyage (doc A). This evidence proves that Zheng He must’ve been a good leader in order to successfully carry out 7 of these voyages and bringing back tributes like “local products, pepper, horses, and money” (doc D). This shows how the voyages actually benefited the emperor and proves that we would be celebrating something that included
Ransby believes “Columbus 's image has been scrubbed clean and sanitized by many generations of American historians so that he can now be offered up as a sterling example of the glorious era of discovery.” (Ransby, 1992/2015, p.14). Objective evidence is also a major component in this article. Columbus’s journal proved he wanted to exploit, and enslave the Indians. A population of 300,000 dwindled to a mere one by 1540. (Ransby, 1992/2015, p.12). Many scene of rape, murder and beating were also described in journals of sailors that travelled with
Although Columbus was increasing the wealth and strength of Spain, he was “a catastrophe for the indigenous inhabitants of the lands” (Belasco 67). He had no remorse for the natives as he proceeded to establish plantations, enslave them, slaughter them, and create a new colony called Espanola on their lands. According to Schuman, Howard, Barry Schwartz, and Hannah d’Arcy, Christopher Columbus “deserves condemnation for having brought slavery, disease, and death...
...aders usually offered tribute and emissaries to avoid conflict. This whole process preceded the colonialism practiced by the Europeans in years to come. The question begging to be answered here is, are Zheng He’s voyages deserving of celebration? In my opinion, I feel that we should acknowledge what he did, and continue to try to learn about the voyages. Just the fleet that he sailed across the world was remarkable; 255 huge ships, 27,500 people, and an astounding doctor-to-patient ratio of 1 to 151. Should Zheng He’s voyages be celebrated? Definitely not, he did not capitalize on the resources available to him. He cared too much about animals that weren't very beneficial, and essentially wasted precious time and money. We need to celebrate people that maximized the potential of their opportunities and actually got close, or achieved something truly great and useful.
Explorers Marco Polo and Zheng He came from two different worlds with differences for the motivation for their explorations, but both created successful works of writing about
Along the Columbus journey bits of gold were found amongst the Native Indians which led to Columbus concluding that there was more (Zinn, 2009, p.481). The Native’s were turned into servants looking for a certain amount of gold for Columbus. If they had not met the daily quota their arms were to be cut off (Zinn, 2009, p.481). This is just part of the brutality that Columbus had put upon the Natives. More cruelty can be seen when Columbus sent five hundred Natives as slaves to the King and Queen in Spain. Also stabbing of Indians was done as a sport and those that resisted against the Spaniards were hunted down as animals (Zinn, 2009, p.482). Zinn shows that the Columbus story is one of the many myths of Western civilization. All the stories about Columbus especially in the USA since, it is a celebration are seen as a heroic adventure. However, many teachers argue that children should not be told such a violent story filled with horrific history (Zinn, 2009, p.485). It is important to teach children at a young age the truth about the Columbus story, so that they know what a monster he
Prince Henry of Portugal, more commonly known as Henry the Navigator, and Zheng He, a successful Chinese admiral, were both extremely accomplished men throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. During this era, many accomplished explorers ventured out into the ocean and discovered new lands, two of the most important men being Henry the Navigator and Zheng He. Although both men came from different backgrounds, their contrasting societies and structures affected the way in which they regarded economic and political expansion and also their contact with other cultures. Societies like the Chinese and Portuguese had many cultural differences such as their different religions. The Chinese practiced neo-Confucianism whereas the Portuguese were Christians which was one of the many purposes of their exploration, to spread Christianity. There were also many cultural similarities between the two societies such as their long lasting histories and their explorer’s curiosity to seek out to new lands, which resulted the two societies in having different views on economic and political expansion and contact with other cultures. Both Confucian and Christian ideologies favored those who worked over the wealthy. Thus, to a larger extent, the structures and values of a society have an extensive impact on the way people view economic and political expansion and contact with other cultures.
He was intending to reach Asia by sailing west rather than taking the traditional route around the Cape of Good Horn. On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men landed on an island in the Bahamas. “As European adventurers traversed the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they initiated the “Columbian Exchange” of plants, animals, and diseases. ”(P. 26). The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of exchanges between the New and Old Worlds.
Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered America, when he landed in the Caribbean Islands. He had left Spain in search of Asia and India. When he and his crew arrived at what now is Haiti for his second voyage, they demanded food, gold, and anything else they wanted from the Indians, even sex with their women. Columbus punished those who committed offenses against him. Rape and enslavement had been brought upon the natives. When the natives of the land, known as the Arawaks, tried to fight back, it led to a massacre of their people in which by Columbus? order, meant crossbows, small cannons, lances, and swords to destroy them. Even wild hunting dogs were released to rip up the Arawaks, whom by the end of the day were dead or ready to ship to Spain as slaves. None of this was ever taught to students.
Age of Explorations was a time of discovery of the new world during the 15th through 17th century. Many Explorers were in search for new passage ways, new trading ports, new land, new spices, and riches. The three explorers discussed in this paper is Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Francisco Pizarro. Henry Hudson was an explorer whose main purpose was to find a route to Asia from Europe, he had a series of three voyages trying to achieve this. Jacques Cartier was sent to find riches and a route to Asia as well. Francisco Pizarro served on an expedition, which he discovered the Pacific Ocean.
I personally think that Columbus has invaded the west Indies because of the way they were treated by the Spaniards (mention in the invading paragraph). I think he was responsible for the ethical cleansing of the arawaks because he had slowly wiped them out by selling them and giving them diseases. He was prejudice, I know this because he wipes them out simply because of their skin colour and the fact they didn't worship who he did.
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.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.