"Floating treasures" of the Celestial Empire. Travels of Zheng He Sea travels of the Ming Dynasty in China

Historical site of Bagheera - secrets of history, mysteries of the universe. Secrets of great empires and ancient civilizations, the fate of lost treasures and biographies of people who changed the world, the secrets of special services. Chronicle of the war, description of battles and battles, reconnaissance operations of the past and present. World traditions, modern life in Russia, the unknown USSR, the main directions of culture and other related topics - all that official science is silent about.

Learn the secrets of history - it's interesting ...

Reading now

Our publication has already talked about the participation of animals in World War II. However, the use of our smaller brothers in military operations dates back to time immemorial. And dogs were among the first to be involved in this harsh business ...

It is generally accepted that Nicholas II was the last Russian emperor. But it's not. The reign of the Romanov dynasty ended with the reign of the younger brother of Nikolai Alexandrovich - Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, it was just a record short: only one day - from March 2 to March 3, 1917.

There are many secrets and mysteries in history, however, as a rule, time is the best assistant in solving them. Well, for example, until quite recently, not only in school textbooks, but even in serious books, it was stated that knightly armor was so heavy that a warrior dressed in them, having fallen, could no longer rise on his own. But today, visiting the Museum of Weapons in the English city of Leeds, you can see how the knights dressed in metal armor of the Tudor era not only fight each other with swords, but also jump into them, which seems quite incredible. However, there were even more perfect knightly armor that belonged to kings, and in particular, to King Henry VIII.

As you know, the capital of Poland is located in Warsaw, but the heart of the country, of course, beats in Krakow. The very soul of Poland lives in this city with its unique medieval architecture.

In 2019, exactly one hundred years have passed since the First Cavalry Army was created under the command of S.M. Budyonny, which became a symbol of the victory of the Red Army in the Civil War. During the years of Soviet power, hundreds of books were written about the exploits of the Budennovites, many feature films and documentaries were shot, but a number of interesting facts are still unknown to the general public.

The Greco-Persian Wars are one of the greatest and most tragic periods in the history of the Ancient World. During these long wars, which ended with the victory of the Greeks and the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, there were many great battles and campaigns. Any modern person is aware, for example, of the feat of 300 Spartans in the Thermopylae Gorge (albeit thanks to Hollywood rather than a history textbook). But how 10,000 Greek elite infantry hoplites fought for their sworn enemies, the Persians, in their division of power, few people know.

This story arose around an old photograph declassified from the archives of the USSR in the 1980s. It shows a group of doctors standing around an operating table, on which the head of a collie dog and her body are separately animated. The caption indicates that this is part of a project to create a biorobot, in which the biological part is performed by a dog's head, animated with the help of a “life saving machine named after V.R. Lebedev", and the mechanical part is called "Storm" and resembles a diver's suit. So what really happened?

Agree, a beautiful name is "Charonda" ... Some experts in toponymy suggest that this word comes from the Sami language and means "moss-covered shore." Others believe that the name "Charonda" was born on behalf of an evil spirit living in the northern lakes - a loft.

Throughout its centuries-old history, the Chinese empire did not show much interest in distant countries and sea travel. But in the 15th century, its ships sailed seven times in the Indian Ocean, and each time the squadron of giant junks was led by the same person - diplomat and admiral Zheng He, who was not inferior to Columbus in the scope of his expeditions.

After the liberation of China from the Mongols and the proclamation of the Ming Empire in 1368 under the rule of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the main task of the new government was "to restore the international prestige of China as a sovereign state and stop foreign invasions." The new emperor Zhu Di (Yong-le, ruled from 1403 to 1424), in an effort to strengthen the international position of the Celestial Empire, decided to organize a huge fleet, the purpose of which would be to demonstrate the power of the new empire and demand obedience from the states of the South Seas.

However, this version, although the most common, is not the only one. The same "History of the Ming Dynasty" indicates that the emperor sent an expedition of Zheng He across the sea, allegedly to search for Emperor Hoi-di, who disappeared without a trace in 1403. This version is the least convincing, since the emperor knew that the relative burned down in the palace during the storming of Nanjing, but did not dare to publicly confirm this, preferring not to refute the rumors about his secret salvation.

In sources not as official as "Ming shi", the economic goals of the expeditions were also reflected. Ma Huan, the chronicler of Zheng He's expeditions, for example, says that these voyages were equipped to cross distant seas in order to trade with foreigners. The fact that Zheng He had to not only bring gifts to foreign rulers, but also trade, is also said in Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu. However, due to the assessment of trade as a low and unworthy occupation, adopted in medieval China by philosophical and ethical concepts, these goals were not properly reflected in most sources.

Perhaps the answer lies in a certain inferiority complex of Yun-le, who was elevated to the throne by a palace coup. It seems that the illegal "Son of Heaven" simply did not want to wait with folded arms until the tributaries themselves came to bow to him.

Zheng He

Zheng He was born in 1371 in the city of Kunyang (now Jinying), in the center of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, not far from its capital Kunming. Nothing in the childhood of the future naval commander, then called Ma He, foreshadowed the coming romance with the ocean: in the 15th century, it was several weeks away from Kunyan to the coast. The surname Ma - a transcription of the name Muhammad - is still often found in the Chinese Muslim community, and our hero was descended from the famous Said Ajalla Shamsa al-Din (1211-1279), also called Umar, a native of Bukhara, who advanced during the time of the Mongol great khans Mongke (grandson of Genghis Khan) and Khubilai. It was the conqueror of China, Khubilai, who in 1274 appointed this Umar as the governor of Yunnan. It is known that the father and grandfather of the future admiral strictly adhered to the code of Islam and performed the Hajj to Mecca. Moreover, there is an opinion in the Muslim world that the future admiral himself visited the holy city, albeit with an informal pilgrimage.

At the time of the boy's birth, the Middle Empire was still under the rule of the Mongols, who favored his family. But the beginning of Ma He's life was quite dramatic. In 1381, during the conquest of Yunnan by the troops of the Chinese Ming dynasty, which threw off the foreign Yuan, the father of the future navigator died at the age of 39. The rebels captured the boy, emasculated and handed over to the service of the fourth son of their leader Hong-wu, the future emperor Yong-le, who soon went to Beiping (Beijing) as governor.

It is important to note one detail here: eunuchs in China, as well as, for example, in Ottoman Turkey, have always remained one of the most influential political forces. Many young men themselves went on a terrible operation, not only in essence, but also in technique, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, if you're lucky, the emperor himself. So the “color-eyed” (as representatives of the non-titular, non-Han people were called in China) Zheng He, according to the then concepts, was simply lucky. Young Ma He has proven himself well in the service. By the end of the 1380s, he already stood out clearly among the prince, who was eleven years younger than him. In 1399, when Beijing was besieged by the troops of the then Emperor Jianwen (reigned from 1398 to 1402), the young dignitary staunchly defended one of the city's reservoirs. It was his actions that allowed the prince to survive in order to counterattack the opponent and achieve the throne. A few years later, Yun-le gathered a powerful militia, raised an uprising, and in 1402, having taken the capital Nanjing by storm, proclaimed himself emperor. Then he adopted the motto of the new government: Yun-le - "Eternal happiness." On the Chinese New Year on February 11, 1404, Ma He, in gratitude for his loyalty and deeds, was solemnly renamed Zheng He - this surname corresponds to the name of one of the ancient kingdoms that existed in China in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. e.

As for the appearance of the future admiral, he, “becoming an adult, they say, grew to seven chi (almost two meters), and the girth of his belt was equal to five chi (more than 140 centimeters). His cheekbones and forehead were wide, and his nose was small. He had a sparkling eye and a voice as loud as the sound of a great gong.

Treasury of Admiral Zheng He

The ruler was in a hurry - the armada was built in a big hurry. The first order to create ships was issued in 1403, and sailing began two years later. By special imperial orders, fishing parties for timber were dispatched to the province of Fujian and to the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The beauty and pride of the squadron, baochuan (literally "precious ships" or "treasuries"), were built at the so-called "shipyard of precious ships" (baochuanchang) on ​​the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. It is this last fact, in particular, that determines that the draft of the junks, with their gigantic size, was not very deep - otherwise they simply would not have passed into the sea through this tributary of the Yangtze.

Historians and shipbuilders cannot yet reliably determine all the characteristics of the ships of the Zheng He armada. A lot of speculation and discussion in the scientific world is caused by the fact that scientists know how similar junks were built before and after Zheng He. However, specially built ships plied the South Seas and the Indian Ocean, about which only the following is known for sure (taking into account the calculations made on the basis of excavations of the ruder post in the Nanjing shipyard).

The length of the large Baochuan ships was 134 meters, and the width was 55. The draft to the waterline was more than 6 meters. There were 9 masts, and they carried 12 sails made of woven bamboo mats. Baochuan in the squadron of Zheng He at different times was from 40 to 60. For comparison: the first transatlantic steamer Izambard Brunel "Great Western", which appeared four centuries later (1837), was almost half as long (about 72 meters).

The measurements of medium ships were 117 and 48 meters, respectively. There were about 200 such junks, and they are comparable to ordinary Chinese ships. The crew of such a ship, which in 1292 carried Marco Polo to India, consisted of 300 people, and Niccolo di Conti, a Venetian merchant of the 14th-15th centuries who traveled to India and Ormuz, mentions five-masted junks with a displacement of about 2000 tons. The Admiral's fleet consisted of 27-28 thousand personnel, which included soldiers, merchants, civilians, officials and artisans: in terms of numbers, this is the population of a large Chinese city of those times.

Chinese ships were built completely differently than European ones. Firstly, they did not have a keel, although sometimes a long bar called lungu (“dragon bone”) was built into the bottom to soften the impact on the ground when mooring. The strength of the ship's structure was achieved by adding wooden fortifications-wells to the sides along the entire length at the level of the waterline or above it. The presence of bulkheads, stretching from side to side at regular intervals, was very important - they protected the ship from flooding in the event of damage to any one or more rooms.

If in Europe the masts were located in the center of the vessel, built into the keel with their bases, then in the Chinese junks the base of each mast was connected only to the nearby bulkhead, which made it possible to “scatter” the masts across the deck, regardless of the central axis of symmetry. At the same time, the sails of different masts did not overlap each other, they opened like a fan, the windage increased, and the ship received correspondingly greater acceleration.

The Chinese ships, designed to work in shallow waters, differed in proportion from European ones: their draft and length were proportionally inferior to their width. This is all we know for certain. The translator of the notes of Ma Huan, Zheng He's companion, John Mills, supplements these data with the assumption that there were 50 cabins on the baochuan.

First expedition

Cheng-zu's first decree on equipping the expedition was issued in March 1405. By this decree, Zheng He was appointed its head, and the eunuch Wang Jihong was his assistant. The preparations for the expedition, apparently, had already begun earlier, since preparations were completed by the autumn of that year.

The ships were built at the mouth of the Yangtze, as well as on the shores of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and then pulled to the anchorages on Liujiahe, where the flotilla was assembled.

The flotilla included sixty-two ships, on which there were twenty-seven thousand eight hundred people. The largest ships were forty-four zhang (one hundred and forty meters) long and eighteen zhang wide. The ships of medium size, respectively, had thirty-seven and fifteen zhangs (one hundred and eight and forty-eight meters). The figures are even more surprising when you consider that the greatest length of the caravel of the first expedition of Columbus "Santa Maria" did not exceed eighteen and a half meters, with a maximum width of 7.8 m.

As stated in the Ming Shi, Zheng He led 62 large ships on the first voyage. However, in the Middle Ages in China, each large ship was accompanied by two or three more small, auxiliary ones. Gong Zhen, for example, speaks of auxiliary vessels that carried fresh water and food. There is evidence that their number reached one hundred and ninety units.

Leaving Lujiajiang, the fleet sailed along the coast of China to Taiping Bay in Changle County, Fujian Province. Here the ships stood until the winter of 1405/1406, completing their preparations and waiting for the beginning of the northeast monsoons. This season lasts from mid-November to February, but usually the flotillas did not set sail after the beginning of February. It must have been in December 1405 or early 1406, having filled the holds with food, fuel and fresh water, the flotilla went to the open sea and headed south.

From the coast of Fujian, Zhang He's fleet set off for Champa. Passing through the South China Sea and rounding about. Kalimantan from the west, he approached the east coast of about. Java. From here, the expedition headed along the northern coast of Java to Palembang. Further, the path of the Chinese ships lay through the Strait of Malacca to the northwestern coast of Sumatra to the country of Samudra. Having entered the Indian Ocean, the Chinese fleet crossed the Bay of Bengal and reached the island of Ceylon. Then, rounding the southern tip of Hindustan, Zheng He visited several rich trading centers on the Malabar coast, including the largest of the bottom - the city of Calicut. A rather colorful illustration of the Calicut market is given by G. Hart in his book “Sea Route to India”: “Chinese silk, thin cotton fabric of local production, famous throughout the East and Europe, calico fabric, cloves, nutmegs, their dried India and Africa, cinnamon from Ceylon, pepper from the Malabar coast, Sunda and Borneo, medicinal plants, ivory from the interior of India and Africa, bundles of cassia, sacks of cardamom, heaps of copra, coir rope, piles of sandalwood, yellow and mahogany." The wealth of this city makes it clear why Zhu Di sent the first expedition there.

In addition, on the first voyage on the way back, the Chinese expeditionary forces captured the famous pirate Chen Zui, who at that time captured Palembang, the capital of the Hindu-Buddhist state of Srivijaya in Sumatra. "Zheng He returned and brought Chen Zu" and in shackles. Arriving at the Old Port (Palembang), he called on Chen to submit. into battle, and Zheng He sent troops and took the fight.Chen was utterly defeated.More than five thousand bandits were killed, ten ships burned and seven captured...Chen and two others were captured and taken to the imperial capital, where they were ordered decapitate.” So the envoy of the metropolis protected the peaceful migrant compatriots in Palembang and at the same time demonstrated that his ships carried weapons on board not only for beauty.

Second expedition

Immediately after returning from a campaign in the autumn of 1407, Zhu Di, surprised by the outlandish goods brought by the expedition, again sent Zheng He's fleet on a long voyage, but this time the flotilla consisted of only 249 ships, since a large number of ships in the first expedition turned out to be useless. The route of the second expedition (1407-1409) basically coincided with the route of the previous one, Zheng He visited mostly familiar places, but this time he spent more time in Siam (Thailand) and Calicut.

The Chinese expeditions returned home by the same route as before, and only incidents along the way make it possible to distinguish in the chronicles the voyages “there” from the return ones. During the second voyage, geographically similar to the first, only one event occurred, the memory of which has been preserved in history: the ruler of Calicut provided the envoys of the Celestial Empire with several bases, relying on which, the Chinese could continue to go even further to the west.

Third expedition

But the third expedition brought more interesting adventures. Under the date July 6, 1411, the chronicle records:

“Zheng He... returned and brought the captured king of Ceylon Alagakkonara, his family and freeloaders. During the first trip, Alagakkonara was rude and disrespectful and set out to kill Zheng He. Zheng He understood this and left. Moreover, Alagakkonara was not friends with neighboring countries and often intercepted and robbed their embassies on the way to China and back. In view of the fact that other barbarians suffered from this, Zheng He, on his return, again showed contempt for Ceylon. Then Alagakkonara lured Zheng He deep into the country and sent his son Nayanara to demand gold, silver and other precious goods from him. If these goods had not been given out, more than 50,000 barbarians would have risen from their hiding places and captured Zheng He's ships. They also sawed down trees and intended to block the narrow paths and cut off Zheng He's retreat so that separate Chinese detachments could not come to each other's aid.

When Zheng He realized that they were cut off from the fleet, he quickly deployed troops and sent them to the ships ... And he ordered the messengers to secretly bypass the roads where the ambush was sitting, return to the ships and convey the order to the officers and soldiers to fight to the death. In the meantime, he personally led the 2,000-strong army by detours. They stormed the eastern walls of the capital, took it with a fright, broke through inside, captured Alagakkonara, his family, freeloaders and dignitaries. Zheng He fought several battles and utterly defeated the barbarian army. When he returned, the ministers decided that Alagakkonar and the other captives should be executed. But the emperor took pity on them - on ignorant people who did not know what the Heavenly mandate to rule was, and let them go, giving them food and clothes, and ordered the Chamber of Rituals to choose a worthy person in the Alagakkonara family to rule the country.

It is believed that this was the only case when Zheng He consciously and decisively turned away from the path of diplomacy and entered into a war not with robbers, but with the official authorities of the country in which he arrived. The above quote is the only documentary description of the actions of the naval commander in Ceylon. However, besides him, of course, there are many legends. The most popular of them describes the scandal associated with the most revered relic - the tooth of the Buddha (Dalada), which Zheng He was either going to steal or really stole from Ceylon.

The story is this: back in 1284, Khubilai sent his emissaries to Ceylon in order to get one of the main sacred relics of Buddhists in a completely legal way. But the Mongol emperor - the famous patron of Buddhism - was still not given a tooth, compensating for the refusal with other expensive gifts. This ended the matter for the time being. But according to the Sinhalese myths, the Middle State secretly did not abandon the desired goal. They generally claim that the admiral's voyages were undertaken almost specifically for the theft of a tooth, and all other wanderings were for averting eyes. But the Sinhalese allegedly outwitted Zheng He - they "slipped" him a royal double instead of the real king and a false relic, and hid the real one while the Chinese were fighting. Compatriots of the great navigator, of course, hold the opposite opinion: the admiral nevertheless got the priceless "piece of Buddha", and even in the manner of a guiding star, he helped him safely get back to Nanjing. What actually happened is unknown.

Fourth expedition

Later, Zheng He's fleet visited even more distant countries: during the fourth expedition (1413-1415), they reached the city of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

Fifth expedition

During the next (1417-1419) they visited Lasa (a point near the modern city of Mersa Fatima in the Red Sea) and a number of cities on the Somali coast of Africa - Mogadishu, Brava, Chzhubu and Malindi.

The sixth and seventh voyages of Zheng He are the least studied. There are practically no sources left of them. Not so long ago, the book "1421: the year when China discovered the world" appeared in print. It was written by a retired British officer, submarine commander Gavin Menzies, who assured that Zheng He was even ahead of Columbus, having discovered America before him, he allegedly outstripped Magellan, having circumnavigated the globe. Professional historians dismiss these constructions as untenable. And yet, one of the admiral's maps - the so-called "Kan" nido map - indicates at least that he had reliable and reliable information about Europe. The search for truth is very complicated by the complete destruction of official information about the last two voyages, which, Did the Chinese get to the Mozambique Channel in East Africa? Researchers also know the testimony of Fra Mauro, a cartographer monk from Venice, who wrote in 1457 that a certain "junk from India" thirty years earlier swam two thousands of miles inland.It has also been suggested that Zheng He's charts formed the basis of the European nautical charts of the Age of Discovery.A final mystery: In January 2006, a 1763 map, supposedly an exact copy of a 1418 map, was presented at an auction. The owner, a Chinese collector who bought it in 2001, immediately attributed it to Menzies's conjectures, because it featured the outlines of I am America and Australia, and with Chinese transcriptions of the names of the natives there. The examination confirmed that the paper on which the scheme was made is authentic, of the 15th century, but doubts remain about the ink. However, even if this is not a fake, then perhaps just a translation of some Western source into Chinese.

Sixth expedition

During the sixth voyage (1421-1422), Zheng He's fleet again reached the coast of Africa.

The sixth journey of Zheng He is the least covered in the sources, since the attention of the chroniclers was riveted to the death of the emperor, because of which the navigator may have been forced to urgently return to his homeland. The purpose of the trip, according to Genvin Menzies, in addition to geographical discoveries, was also the delivery of ambassadors and foreign rulers home after their visit to the opening ceremony of the Forbidden City. As before, the first destination of Zheng He's fleet was Malacca, where the Chinese established a transshipment base for ships carrying spices from the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.

The Chinese, in addition to their special patronage of Malacca and Calicut on the southwestern coast of India, created and, one way or another, maintained an extensive network of smaller port cities, covering Southeast Asia and the countries of the Indian Ocean basin. Zheng He used these ports as bases for his Golden Fleet, where his ships could stock up on food and fresh water all the way from China to East Africa. Having replenished their provisions and water in Malacca, the Chinese sailed for five days and anchored at Semudera, where the admiral divided his army into four fleets. Three of these great fleets set sail under the command of the Great Eunuch Hong Bao, the eunuch Zhou Man and the eunuch Zhou Wen. Zheng He left the fourth fleet under his command. All 3 fleets first of all had to deliver the foreign nobles and ambassadors who were on board to their homeland - to the ports of India, Arabia, and East Africa. After that, the fleets were to meet off the southern coast of Africa in order to proceed with the second part of the emperor's assignment - to sail through "unexplored waters to the ends of the earth."

According to the ancient Chinese map "Mao Kun", this is exactly what this segment of the route looked like. Having gathered in Calicut for trade, the Golden Fleets again split up to deliver ambassadors to their homeland. After the envoys were delivered to their native land, according to the Mao Kun map, all the ships gathered at Sofala (modern Mozambique). Since the map ended on this segment of the journey, Menzies was forced to look for a new source of information, which for him was the map of the Venetian cartographer Fra Mauro, drawn by him at the beginning of 1459. The explorer was attracted by how detailed and accurate the Cape of Good Hope was drawn on the map, given the fact that the cartographer himself did not travel the world and was an office worker. Fra Maro pointed out that information about the Cape and the junks had been provided to him by the Venetian ambassador da Conti, who at that time lived in Calicut and, at the suggestion of Menzies, could return to Italy on a Chinese junk and have information provided by the Chinese. In August 1421, the Chinese, drawn by the South Equatorial Current, rounded the West African Horn, and, finding themselves in the zone of the Senegal Current, moved north to Cape Verde. There, near the village of Janela, Menzies discovered a carved slab with ancient inscriptions (called Ribeira di Peneda by the locals), as a result, identified as the writings of the Malayalam language, a common language in Kerala (of which Calicut was the capital), dating back to the 9th century.

As evidence of the visit of the Chinese to the New World, Menzies cited the medieval map of Piri Reis, on which one can trace the contours of the western coast of South America and Antarctica. The author of the sensational book claims that the Ottoman cartographer was based on materials collected by the Chinese. The writer explained the purpose of the Chinese travel to the uninhabited lands of Patagonia by searching for a guiding star that could replace the polar star south of the equator line (Canopus and the Southern Cross).

According to Menzies' hypothesis, having established the geographical latitude of Canopus, the fleets of the admirals of the Golden Fleet Zhou Man and Hong Bao separated and, independently of each other, moved along the given latitude to China. Since Zhou Man's fleet did not deliver a single envoy to China, the researcher concluded that the naval commander moved westward to explore and map the Pacific Ocean, he returned to his homeland through the Spice Islands. Admiral Hong Bao's fleet moved towards Antarctica to establish the exact position of the Southern Cross, and then returned home, moving east through the waters of the southern seas, visiting Malacca and Calicut. Based on maps, including such ancient ones as the map of Admiral Piri Reis, the Chinese pilot Wu Pei Chi, etc. Menzies proves that the Chinese fleets reached not only the New World, but also Antarctica and Australia, and were the first to circumnavigate the world.

However, an unprofessional approach to criticizing sources, pulling up facts according to dictated necessity, were clear evidence that the creation of a British sailor is in many ways just a proposal generated by market demand. Menzies has been criticized for "an irresponsible way of looking at evidence" that led him to hypothesize "without a shred of evidence". Collaboration with the publishing house that published the work of Dan Brown was the reason for the corresponding analogies.

Seventh voyage

Be that as it may, contrary to Menzies' assertion, Zheng He's sixth voyage was not the last expedition of the Chinese admiral. Like the previous voyages, the seventh expedition of Zheng He (1431-1433) and the expedition of his closest assistant Wang Jianghong that followed it were crowned with success. The embassy relations of the countries of the South Seas with China revived again, and the rulers of these countries arrived at the imperial court from Malacca (1433) and Samudra (1434). However, the situation that had developed at the beginning of the 15th century was never restored. By this time, at the court of the emperor, the group of close associates of Zhu Di was growing stronger, who insisted on reducing the expeditions and returning to the policy of isolationism. After the death of Zhu Di, under the influence of such court moods, the new emperor insisted on stopping the expeditions, as well as destroying all evidence of their conduct.

Meaning

The description of Zheng He's expeditions was compiled in 1416 by his companion and translator Ma Huan, from the Dinglings. Ma Huan's book is notable for its accuracy in observing the customs of the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Zheng He's travels were perhaps the first page in the history of the Great Geographical Discoveries. He did not set himself the task of securing a foothold in the southern seas and creating a durable trading empire, which is why Chinese influence in the countries he visited did not last even half a century. Nevertheless, the information he received about the southern and western countries led to the intensification of trade with Indochina and to the growth of Chinese emigration to these parts. The trends that began with the voyages of Zheng He continued until the 19th century.

On all voyages, the grandiose armada departed from the South China Sea. Through the Indian Ocean, the ships went towards Ceylon and southern Hindustan, and the last trips also covered the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. Zheng He walked every time in a "knurled" way: catching the recurring monsoon winds that blow from December to March at these latitudes from the north and northeast. When the humid subequatorial air currents rose over the Indian Ocean and, as it were, turned back to the north in a circle - from April to August, the flotilla accordingly turned to the house. This monsoon schedule was known by heart to local sailors long before our era, and not only to sailors: after all, it also dictated the order of agricultural seasons. Taking into account the monsoons, as well as the pattern of constellations, travelers confidently crossed from the south of Arabia to the Malabar coast of India, or from Ceylon to Sumatra and Malacca, adhering to a certain latitude.

A logical question arises: why was the planet discovered, explored and settled by the Portuguese, Spaniards and the British, and not by the Chinese - after all, the voyages of Zheng He showed that the sons of the Celestial Empire knew how to build ships and provide for their expeditions economically and politically? The answer is simple, and it comes down not only to the difference in the ethnopsychology of the average European and the average Chinese, but also to the historical and cultural situation of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Europeans have always lacked land and resources to support their rapidly developing economy, they were driven to capture new territories by tightness and the eternal lack of material goods (gold, silver, spices, silk, etc.) for everyone who craved them. Here you can also recall the free spirit of the heirs of the Hellenes and Romans, who from ancient times sought to populate the Mediterranean, because they went to conquer new lands even before the first dhows and caravels left the stocks. The Chinese also had their own problems - overpopulation and land hunger, but despite the fact that they were always separated from the tempting neighboring territories only by narrow straits, China remained self-sufficient: the subjects of the son of Heaven spread across Southeast Asia and neighboring countries as peaceful settlers, not as missionaries or hunters for slaves and gold. The incident of Emperor Yongle and his admiral Zheng He is the exception, not the rule. The fact that the baochuan were large and that there were many of them did not mean that China sent them to distant countries to seize land and set up overseas colonies. In this regard, the nimble caravels of Columbus and Vasco da Gama beat the giant junks of Zheng He on all fronts. It was this disinterest of the Chinese and their supreme power in the outside world, the concentration on themselves that led to the fact that the grandiose passionary outburst of the Yongle Emperor's time did not find continuation after his death. Yongle sent ships over the horizon in defiance of the mainstream imperial policy, which ordered the son of Heaven to receive ambassadors from the world, and not send them out to the world. The death of the emperor and the admiral returned the Celestial Empire to the status quo: the briefly opened shell doors slammed shut again.

Website materials used: http://www.poxod.eu

Discoveries of Chinese sailors

China was a densely populated country with a fairly highly developed culture. It bordered Manchuria to the north and Vietnam to the south. And the famous Great Silk Road passed through Central Asia, from China to Europe. Judging by the surviving documents, Chinese sailors usually sailed along the coast of southeastern and southern parts of Asia. At the same time, their path led, as a rule, from the Pacific to the Indian.

The sea road was the most convenient for merchants and discoverers. The faithful companion of the sailor even then was the compass, developed and first made by the Chinese.

Chinese junk

One of the most distant and longest journeys modern scientists consider is the journey of the Buddhist monk I Ching, who in the period from 689 to 695 was able to reach Sumatra, moving along the coast of Indochina and Malacca. Yi Jing was struck by the beauty of the island, completely covered with the greenery of tropical and mangrove forests. Arriving in Sumatra, the monk disembarked and stopped at the cultural and economic center of the island, the city of Srivajai (the modern name is Palembang). For several months, I Ching lived in Sumatra, studying the language, literature and culture of the islanders. After that, on board the merchant ship, the monk set off to travel further. So, he visited the Indian Ocean, and then through the Bay of Bengal came to the mouth of the Ganges River. And only after that I Ching decided to return to his homeland in order to write a detailed story about his distant, but interesting journey.

The Chinese emperor Mu Wang, who ruled the country in the X century BC. e., preferred land travel to sea travel. So, one day he became the organizer and head of the expedition, which made a difficult transition to the Kunlun mountains and the far northern regions.

Historians claim that even at the beginning of the new era, Chinese ships regularly went to the islands of Indonesia, as well as to the Philippine Islands, to India, to Ceylon. In addition, often the ships of Chinese travelers plowed the expanses of the Arabian Sea and came close to the coast of the African continent. At the same time, trade was the main purpose of maritime wanderings. Usually silk, porcelain and metals were brought from China, and gold, herbs, rhinoceros horns, elephant tusks and wood were brought.

Until now, one of the most unique sea crossings is considered to be a trip organized by the eunuch, who was in the service of the king's court, Zhe He. The Chinese expedition then consisted of 317 well-equipped ships, on board of which there were about 27,000 people well-versed in various fields of knowledge: navigation, navigation, military affairs, cartography and geography.

India

At that time, the Chinese junk was considered one of the most reliable ship models in the world. In terms of size, she was slightly superior to European ships of the same class, but in terms of maneuverability she was not inferior to them at all. On such a junk, Zhei He traveled the seas, visiting the coast of Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, South-West Africa, the Persian Gulf, and was also able to go around the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1405, almost a century before Christopher Columbus discovered America, one of the largest fleets in the history of mankind set sail. It was commanded by eunuch admiral Zheng He. It was the penetration into the world of other peoples of a high culture, which was so much higher than the culture of the natives that it caused them a real shock. Navigators kept detailed and accurate records of what they saw and made maps.
But over time, China plunged into a swamp of isolation from the rest of the world, and thoughts of global expansion disappeared, and the most valuable documents were simply destroyed. They simply forgot about unprecedented achievements. Any travel of the Chinese abroad was prohibited...

The cultural heritage of China, which has remained since the time when the Chinese Empire was a powerful power (the end of the 14th - the beginning of the 15th centuries), is huge, and traces of it can be found in many countries. According to scientific data, geographical maps have been known to Chinese sailors for a long time, even before our era. Thus, on fragments of Chinese silk from the reign of the first emperors of the Ming Dynasty, one can find the contours of the outlines of Asian and neighboring countries, starting with Japan and ending with the states of the east coast of Africa. The cultural heritage should also include the journeys of Chinese sailors that took place at the beginning of the 15th century, which, among other things, brought elements of high civilization to underdeveloped and isolated peoples. Figuratively speaking, at a distance of many thousands of kilometers, China left behind a trace of a giant colossus, whose name is the culture of the Chinese Empire.
During the development of their civilization, the Chinese have accumulated extensive experience in many areas of human activity. The campaigns of huge ships, created by the will of Emperor Zhu Di and sent by him to plow the expanses of the world's oceans, were the culmination of an 800-year period of Chinese navigation and exploration of new spaces. By the time Admiral Zheng He set out, the tradition of trading with India was over 600 years old! And even during the time of the Mongol Khan Kublai, when the Chinese fleet was small, this trade did not stop. Chinese science and technology were ahead of their world counterparts. From the end of the XI century. a compass appeared on Chinese ships - the Chinese have known about the properties of a magnet since ancient times. If the sun is hidden behind clouds, then they use a south-pointing needle, ”says one treatise about the navigation of Chinese sailors.

Development of navigation
The Chinese had a much more ancient tradition of navigation, experience of sailing the seas, oceans and the development of navigation technology than any European people. Zheng He's vast fleet of gigantic "floating treasuries" and numerous supply ships was the result of an expanded shipbuilding program that, in turn, could only be accepted because it was supported by all the gigantic economic power of the Chinese Empire. The tiny caravels of Cabral, Dias and Magellan look like pleasure boats compared to Zheng He's "floating treasures".
Imperial China reached greatness and turned into a mighty maritime power, and its coastal cities became centers of world trade. So, the city of Canton at the beginning of the XIV century, according to one European traveler who visited it, was equal to three Venices. “There are not as many goods in all of Italy as there are in this city alone,” he notes. At that time, large quantities of silk, porcelain, art products were exported from China to other countries, and spices, cotton fabrics, medicinal herbs, glass and other goods were imported. Chinese sailors had a thorough knowledge of the winds, sea currents, shoals, typhoons, which were obtained by the centuries-old practice of sailors. The country had an extensive geographical literature containing descriptions of overseas countries with detailed information about the goods brought from them to China.
For the development of trade in China, more than 300 types of ships - junk were created. Preserved to this day, they amaze with their seaworthiness, spaciousness and practicality. They are all very similar: flat bottom, vertical sides of the hull, slightly pointed bow, blunt, chopped stern with cabins and batten sails woven from reed. In principle, the design of the junks is so rational that it has reached our time almost unchanged - that is, after several millennia. Not every, even seemingly promising technical product in its time, has such a fate.
In history, junks are mentioned that could accommodate up to a thousand people. In Chinese ports for long-distance voyages, large sea vessels were built, which had several decks, many rooms for the crew and merchants; the crew of such a ship usually numbered up to a thousand sailors and soldiers, which was necessary in case of a meeting with pirates, who were especially numerous in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. These ships were propelled by sails made of reed mats fixed on movable yards, which made it possible to change the position of the sails in accordance with the direction of the wind; when calm, these ships moved with the help of large oars.
There are sufficient grounds to redraw the entire history of the Great Geographical Discoveries and Western Civilization. The gigantic Chinese fleet under the command of admirals Zheng He, Yang Qing, Zhou Man, Hong Bao and Zhou Wen, embarking on a grandiose journey across the oceans, discovered and described previously unknown continents, islands and countries. The Chinese passed through archipelagos of up to 17,000 islands and mapped 10,000 miles of coastline. In this regard, the statement of Admiral Zheng He that he and his admirals visited about "three thousand countries - large and small" looks quite real.
In scientific circles, there is a point of view that the Chinese fleets passed through the Indian Ocean to East Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and reached the Cape Verde Islands. Then, having passed the Caribbean Sea, they reached North America, South America and the Arctic, sailed to Cape Horn, reached Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and crossed the Pacific Ocean.
Any "floating treasury" was twice as long and three times as wide as Admiral Nelson's ship Victoria. In addition, Chinese ships withstood battle damage better and had better stability. This is not to mention the fact that, compared with the Victoria, the “floating treasury” could be on the high seas for months without calling at ports.
Chinese ships could be at sea even under the most adverse and severe weather conditions. The means of navigation available on them allowed the Chinese not only to determine with great accuracy their position in the World Ocean, but also to draw maps of the Earth that are almost modern in outline. According to the popular version, the map of the world, copied from the Chinese, was kept in the Portuguese state treasury for almost 100 years. Over time, this allowed the Portuguese sailors to get to the lands depicted on it.
But all these achievements went to the Chinese at a great price. So, out of the entire fleet of Admiral Hong Bao, only four ships returned home, and only one from the Zhou Man fleet. During the sixth voyage, losses amounted to at least 50 ships. Losses in the personnel were also very high: out of 9 thousand crew members of the Zhou Man fleet, only 900 people returned to China.
If we talk about all the "Golden Fleets", then it is easy to come to the conclusion that during their wanderings up to 3/4 of the entire crew was lost. Some people died of disease, some died at sea, but most of the crews were probably left in the settlements created by the Chinese around the world, which over time should have turned into a constantly and well-functioning Chinese-style colonization support system.

Imperial Gold Fleet
One feature of the Zhu Di empire must be said separately - the emperor relied on a layer that had no family, no children, no heirs - these were eunuchs. At one time their number reached 70 thousand people. The eunuchs castrated for harems, apart from the interests of the state, had nothing, but under Zhu Di, the eunuchs occupied key positions in the army, navy and, especially, at the court. In addition, China relied on the ideology of Buddhism, which was distinguished by exceptional religious tolerance and allowed both Shintoists, Tibetan adherents of the Bon religion, Muslims and pagans to coexist in the empire.
The main support of the emperor was the Chinese civilization as a whole. Unlike Europe, where after the era of antiquity there was a failure in the form of the "dark ages" of the Middle Ages, China developed continuously. Astronomy, metallurgy, medicine, agricultural technology - in any of these industries, China was hundreds of years ahead of the rest of the world. Gunpowder, paper, typography, paper money, porcelain, silk - all this is the result of Chinese developments, and a unique so-called "Golden Fleet" was created. This fleet, so named because of its size and the enormous cost of its construction, was supposed to fulfill the will of the emperor. But one could also call it "Scarlet Sails" - hundreds of ships of the Chinese fleet were equipped with light and durable scarlet silk sails.
While the Portuguese were just beginning their advance into the South Atlantic Ocean, the Chinese fleet, consisting of up to 100 different ships with a total crew of up to 25-30 thousand people, made seven voyages to the west, visiting Indochina, Java, Ceylon, the Malabar coast in India , Aden and Hormuz in Arabia. Chinese ships visited the Somali coast of Africa. In the seas of the Malay Archipelago, this fleet defeated numerous pirate detachments that hindered the development of China's maritime trade with the countries of South Asia.
These expeditions were led by the great Chinese navigator Zheng He, who came from a humble family and was promoted to the emperor's court for his military merits. Zheng He's expeditions not only strengthened China's influence in South Asia and contributed to the growth of its economic and cultural ties, but also expanded the geographical knowledge of the Chinese: their participants studied, described and mapped the lands and seas they visited. “Countries beyond the horizon and at the edge of the earth have now become subject to China and to the most western and northernmost edges, and perhaps beyond their borders, and all paths have been traveled and distances have been measured,” Zheng He assessed the results of his voyages.
The great eunuch Zheng He was placed at the head of the Golden Fleet. A Muslim by faith, he was a prominent figure in the empire. The Golden Fleet was the embodiment of the greatness and ambitious intentions of the Celestial Empire. It included "floating treasuries", warships, grain carriers, water carriers, repair depots, etc. These were: "binchuan" - "ships for warriors", "machuan" - "ships for horses", "lianchuan" - "ships for grain" (and food ships in general) and even peculiar "tankers" for fresh water.
The "floating treasury" was almost the size of a stadium - about 150 meters long and 40 meters wide (other sources give other values). She had 10 masts. It was built from three layers of the strongest trees. She was divided into 16 watertight compartments, and the flooding of even a few of them did not yet lead to the death of the ship. The steering wheel was about 10 meters high. There were interchangeable keels. The fleet had everything for a long voyage. Even trained sea otters to drive fish into nets. Had dogs for fresh meat. Soybeans grew in barrels - to avoid scurvy. Crews knew how to desalinate water. There were astronomers, geologists, agronomists. The fleet could sail away from the coast for up to three months and overcome up to 10 thousand kilometers. The number of personnel of the fleet was up to 30 thousand people.
Even before the start of the sixth, most grandiose, journey of the Chinese Golden Fleet, Emperor Zhu Di subjugated virtually all of Southeast Asia, including Manchuria, Korea and Japan, to China. Through his efforts, the Great Silk Road gained new life all the way from China to Persia (present-day Iran). Under the strong influence of China, in addition, there was Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean turned into a kind of “Chinese lake”. Campaigns of the Chinese Golden Fleet in 1421-1423. further expanded the possessions and influence of the Chinese Empire in the region.

Historical background
The Chinese have known for a long time that the Earth is a sphere, they also knew its approximate dimensions. They knew how to determine latitude and, with errors, longitude. They had experience sailing in warm and icy seas. At the same time, from the point of view of engineering knowledge, the above dimensions for a wooden sailing ship seem too large. However, the tome found in 2000 - "The Tale of the Heavenly Maiden Keeping the High Spirit by the Command of the Great Lord" - irrefutably proves that Zheng He's giant "floating treasury" is not fiction, but historical fact. The Buddhist monk Sheng Hui, who participated in the fifth voyage of Zheng He, dictated its content to his student before his death. The illustration shows Zheng He's fleet in march formation, as well as the Heavenly Maiden guarding it - the messenger of the sea deity. In the painting, Zheng He's courts march in five lines of five pennants each. All ships are similar to each other in contours and sizes, their "bow and stern rise boldly, the sides rise like walls, and the womb sank into the depths." The data given in the tome make a significant contribution to the reconstruction of the authentic appearance of Zheng He's "floating treasury".
The underwater remains found so far confirm that the ancient Chinese ships did indeed have very full contours. In recent years, several shipwrecks from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties (960-1644) have been found off the coast of China. Some of the found ships were measured by Wang Guanzhuo, a researcher at the National Museum of China. According to him, among the ships there are those with a length-to-width ratio of 2.4: 1, but they cannot be compared with a "floating treasury." In general, the finds indicate that at that time "full" courts became widespread in China.
According to the tome, Zheng He went to the Western (Pacific) Ocean on a "ship of 2,000 materials." This characteristic coincides with the indication of another source. An inscription on a stone stele from the Jihaisi Monastery in Nanjing says: “In the third year of Yongle (1406), the commander boarded a ship made of 2,000 materials. The army occupied 8 ships.

Expansion
To achieve his goals, Admiral Zheng He sometimes resorted to armed force. For example, in 1405, during the first expedition, Zheng He demanded that the sacred Buddhist relics of Lanka be handed over to the Chinese emperor: the tooth, hair and begging bowl of the Buddha, which were the most important relics and attributes of the power of the Sinhalese kings.
Having received a refusal, Zheng He again returned to the island, accompanied by a detachment of 3,000 people, broke into the capital, captured the king of Vir Alakeshvara, his family members and associates, delivered them to the ship and took them to China.
During the fourth voyage, during a visit to the state of Pasai in northern Sumatra, which is usual on this route, the admiral's fleet had to take part in the ongoing struggle between the Chinese-recognized monarch Zain al-Abidin and a pretender named Sekander. The Chinese fleet brought gifts from the emperor for Zayn al-Abidin, but not for Sekander, which angered the latter and he attacked the Chinese. Zheng He managed to turn the incident to his advantage, defeat his troops, capture Sekander himself and send him to China.
After the death of Emperor Zhu Di, sea expeditions were temporarily suspended, and Zheng He himself served as the head of the garrison in Nanjing for seven years. During the last, seventh, journey, Zheng He was over 60 years old. He no longer personally visited many countries visited by Chinese ships, and returned to China in 1433, while separate units of the fleet under the command of his assistants visited Mecca in 1434, as well as Sumatra and Java.
Zheng He's expeditions contributed to the cultural exchange of African and Asian countries with China and the establishment of trade relations between them. Detailed descriptions of the countries and cities visited by Chinese navigators were compiled.
Based on the materials and information collected by members of Zheng He's sea expeditions, in Ming China in 1597, Lo Mao-teng wrote the novel Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean (San Bao tai jian Xi yang chi). As the sinologist A.V. Velgus, there is a lot of fantasy in it, but in some descriptions the author definitely used data from historical and geographical sources. Under the leadership of Zheng He, the flotilla visited more than 56 countries and major cities in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean basin.
The first voyage of Zheng He took place in 1405-1407 along the route of Suzhou-Champa coast-Java island-North-West Sumatra-Strait of Malacca-Sri Lanka island. Then, rounding the southern tip of Hindustan, the flotilla moved to the trading cities of the Malabar coast of India, reaching the largest Indian port - Calicut. Approximately the same were the routes of the second (1407-1409) and third (1409-1411) campaigns. The fourth (1413-1415), fifth (1417-1419), sixth (1421-1422) and seventh (1431-1433) expeditions reached Hormuz and the African coast in the region of modern Somalia, entered the Red Sea. Navigators kept detailed and accurate records of what they saw, made maps. They recorded the time of departure, parking places, marked the location of reefs and shoals. Descriptions of overseas states and cities, political orders, climate, local customs, legends were compiled. Zheng He delivered the emperor's messages to foreign countries, encouraged the arrival of foreign embassies in China, and conducted trade.

Chinese stagnation
The losses of Zheng He's Golden Fleet for the empire turned out to be huge - both in ships and in personnel. They were sensitive even for such a mighty power as the Chinese Empire. However, the task given by Emperor Zhu Di to his admirals was completed. It was the greatest success that no other power in the world has yet achieved. Achievements of the Chinese in the early XV century. can be called the greatest achievements of all mankind. The plan of Emperor Zhu Di to describe the entire sublunar world and make it a tributary of the Celestial Empire could come true...
So, in any case, the Chinese admirals thought when they returned to their homeland. However, they found such radical changes in domestic and foreign policy in their homeland that thoughts of world expansion disappeared from them by themselves. China, where they returned, has completely changed. The dying emperor Zhu Di could no longer influence anything, and the mandarin cabinet that came to power purposefully destroyed the state system created by the former emperor, the purpose of which was to master the world. Tribute was no longer collected from distant lands, major scientific experiments were not carried out, grandiose enterprises sunk into oblivion. China gradually sank into a swamp of isolation from the rest of the world. The eunuch admirals were dismissed from service, their ships were scrapped or laid up against the harbor wall - to rot. Maps, sailing directions, ship's logs, diaries, travel descriptions and other valuable documents were destroyed by order of the new owners of the Naval Ministry. The great achievements of Zheng He were not noted, and over time they were simply forgotten.
The reason was rather prosaic. Two months after the departure of Zheng He's fleet, a storm broke out over the Forbidden City in Beijing and a fire started. The fire destroyed almost the entire city and even the throne of the emperor. Hundreds of people died. Emperor Zhu Di regarded everything as the wrath of Heaven and transferred power to his son. But the mandarins demanded more drastic measures: to remove the eunuchs, to abandon external expansion, since the Great Wall, the Grand Canal and the Golden Fleet required enormous costs. Only so much timber for ships was cut down that Vietnam rebelled and seceded from China.
In September 1424, Emperor Zhu Di died, and his son forbade the construction of "floating treasuries" - even the drawings were destroyed. They burned all reports, maps, and in general, any trips of the Chinese abroad were prohibited.
On the lands of China reigned the harmony of stagnation in the spirit of Confucius. Contacts with the outside world were reduced to a minimum, and foreign trade revenues fell. With the death of Zhu Di, a certain vacuum arose in the world, which was immediately filled by the Portuguese and Spaniards. And after 1644 and the change of the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty, the isolation intensified. China has fallen into lethargy...

Vladimir Golovko,
Evgeny Petropavlovsky
Kyiv City

He finally got rid of the Mongol rule and until 1644 the Ming dynasty ruled the country. During this period, many monarchs left an indelible mark on Chinese history. One of them was Yongle, “the second founder of the dynasty”, during which the Great Ming Empire dramatically changed the political vector and entered a new era of prosperity. During the reign of Yongle (Zhu Di) and the only emperor-artist Xuande (Zhu Zhanji), there lived Zheng He (1371-1435), a great Chinese traveler, diplomat and admiral who made seven long sea voyages across the Indian Ocean.

Causes and Significance of Zheng He's Military Trade Expeditions

European countries and Russia were more focused on expansion. Not surprisingly, most of the great travelers came from the Old World, mostly from countries with strong navies. They searched and found ways in the West Indies, new continents and islands, new colonies and markets. They "went across three seas", sailed on the Mayflower, searched for El Dorado and established outposts in Alaska and Fort Ross, on the inhospitable Pacific and Caribbean islands with bloodthirsty natives.

China has been closed in on itself for most of its history, and the interests of the state usually did not go beyond the territory of its closest neighbors. Often, contacts with overseas merchants and their own coastal shipping off the country's eastern coast were strictly limited. Nevertheless, during the reign of Zhu Di and Zhu Zhanji, China also had its own great traveler, who appeared in the heyday of the Great Ming Empire - Zheng He. The Yongle Emperor was one of the most progressive monarchs in Chinese history. Under him, many now popular ones were built, construction began and completed in, founded and built.

Zhu Di and his grandson Xuande spent a lot of money and energy on diplomatic and military activities to strengthen the influence of the Great Ming Empire outside of "Inner China", limited by the Pacific seas and the Tibetan plateau. Such activity was not characteristic of either their predecessors or their descendants. One of the significant foreign policy steps was seven major military-trading expeditions to southern India, the shores of the Persian Gulf and Northeast Africa. Expeditions of this level were unprecedented in China. If you are in Malacca (Malaysia), pay attention to the majestic statue of Zheng He. The voyages of the famous traveler and admiral had a huge and lasting impact on the historical development of Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. It is believed that Zheng He's expeditions contributed to increased Chinese emigration to these places and the development of Chinese culture in the region. In modern Chinese historiography, the peaceful voyages of the great traveler are usually contrasted with the aggressive, predatory expeditions of the Western European colonizers.

Biography of Zheng He

At birth, Zheng He was given the name Ma He. The surname Zheng was granted to the future traveler for faithful service by the emperor in 1404. He was born in the village of Hedai, in the central part of Yunnan province, bordering on Indochina and Tibet. Rod Ma came from Central Asia. He's ancestors migrated to China when the Celestial Empire was under the control of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Subsequently, they became sinicized, retaining the Muslim faith. At the age of 14, Ma He was castrated and became a eunuch in the court of Zhu Di, the future Yongle Emperor. The future admiral probably made his first trip in 1404, when he received the surname Zheng. According to some reports, he was engaged in the construction of warships to fight pirates and visited Japan, which was also interested in defeating the corsairs.

The Seven Journeys of Zheng He

For the first time, the decision to build a squadron was most likely made in 1403. Two years later, the first voyage of a huge fleet of a quarter of a thousand ships with a total crew of about 27,000 people took place. If official Ming history is to be believed, these ships were sheer behemoths, larger than any wooden ships ever built. Seven voyages took place between 1405 and 1433. During this time, the eunuch admiral's fleet visited dozens of countries.

During the first voyage (1405-07), the fleet visited the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sri Lanka, visited the ports of South India. In the next two expeditions, the route differed slightly (1407-1409 and 1409-1411). During subsequent voyages, Zheng He and the squadrons subordinate to him reached the Horn of Africa (the region of present-day Somalia), the island of Hormuz (Persia-Iran), and the coast of the Red Sea. After Yongle's death, there was a break for several years. At this time, Zheng He leads the Nanjing garrison. At Xuande, swimming resumes again. During the last expedition, the admiral no longer personally enters many countries, sending individual ships and squadrons there. Long journeys are already weighing on Zhong He, and he returns to China even before the campaign is completed.

During their voyages, the admiral and his subordinates were actively engaged in establishing and improving diplomatic and trade relations with many countries, compiled navigational charts and collected detailed information about the states and territories they visited. Subsequently, the work of the Chinese admiral was used by many European travelers who were not yet familiar with the northern waterways of the Indian Ocean. Today, many Chinese communities in Indonesia and Malaysia consider Zhong He almost a saint. Many temples and monuments have been erected in his honor.