China's Great Armada and its Leader Zheng He

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Zheng He was a great Chinese Mariner who made the voyages to the Western Ocean from 1405 to 1433, almost a century before Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas and Vasco da Gama's in India. Even then the European expeditions would seem paltry by comparison: All the ships of Columbus and da Gama combined could have been stored on a single deck of a single vessel in the fleet that set sail under Zheng He.

Zheng He was born into a Muslim family in Yunnan Province in the southwestern part of China in 1371. His ancestors were the Arabian immigrated into China during the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) conquered his province in 1378 when he was still young, and he was taken to the imperial Chinese capital to serve as a court eunuch.

However, he distinguished himself by helping Zhu Yuanzhang (the first emperor in the Ming Dynasty) defeat the Yuan Dynasty. During the coup started by Zhu Di, who was the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang and later became into emperor Yongle, Zheng He helped him gain the throne and was given command of the Chinese navy.

Treasure Ship in the expedition

Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean, Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions.

Zheng He led his fleet to voyage to the Western Sea for seven times. The number of ships of his fleet was from 40 to 63 each time, taking many soldiers and sailors on the voyage, with a total party over 27,000 people. Their ships navigated the wide sea area from Ryukyu Islands, the Philippine Islands and Maluku Sea to the Mozambican Channel and the costal areas of South Africa.

Throughout his travels, Zheng He liberally dispensed Chinese gifts of silk, porcelain, and other goods. In return, he received rich and unusual presents from his hosts, including African zebras and giraffes that ended their days in the Ming imperial zoo. Zheng He and his company paid respects to local deities and customs, and in Ceylon they erected a monument honouring Buddha, Allah, and Vishnu.

The next part is from National Geographic:

"Viewed from the rocky outcropping of Dondra Head at the southernnmost tip of Sri Lanka, the first sighting of the Ming fleet is a massive shadow on the horizon. As the shadow rises, it breaks into a cloud of tautly ribbed sail, aflame in the tropical sun. With relentless determination, the cloud draws ever closer, and in its fiery embrace an enormous city appears. A floating city, like nothing the world has ever seen before. No warning could have prepared officials, soldiers, or the thunderstruck peasants who stand atop Dondra Head for the scene that unfolds below them. Stretched across miles of the Indian Ocean in terrifying majesty is the armada of Zheng He, admiral of the imperial Ming navy."

Route of the Expidition

Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. But a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates who had long plagued Chinese and southeast Asian waters. He also intervened in a civil disturbance in order to establish his authority in Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from thirty states who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.

In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor decided to stop the expeditions. Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty: he was, like many great admirals, buried at sea.

Zheng He's missions showed impressive demonstrations of organizational capability and technological might, but did not lead to significant trade, for Zheng He was an admiral and an official, not a merchant. The dynasty gave up any plans to maintain a Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean and even destroyed most of the nautical charts that Zheng He had carefully prepared. The decommissioned treasure ships sat in harbors until they rotted away, and Chinese craftsmen forgot the technology of building such large vessels......

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