Zheng He

Zheng He Facts

Zheng He was born in 1371 in the Mongol-controlled Yunnan province. He was raised in a Muslim family until the age of ten when he was captured by invading Ming forces. Being captured in warfare, Zheng He was castrated and forced to become a servant to the Ming court.

Zheng He distinguished himself in the military service of the future Chinese emperor Yongle. After a three-year civil war, the Yongle emperor ascended to the throne. Zheng He's power grew alongside the emperor's, and he was soon elevated to head eunuch of the Chinese imperial court.

By 1405, Zheng He was an appointed admiral of the Chinese fleet. In that same year, the emperor selected Zheng He to lead a diplomatic and trade expedition into the Indian Ocean. Zheng He's fleet comprised hundreds of ships, including 62 massive treasure ships, or baochuan. These nine-mast, four-deck treasure ships were up to five times the size of the ship Columbus used to sail across the Atlantic Ocean almost a century later!

Zheng He sailed with 28,000 men under his command and did not return to China until 1407. The royal fleet's mission was successful; China built relations with powerful courts around Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, all while flexing its military muscles. The success of this first voyage led to six successive voyages by admiral Zheng He.

Zheng He's Route

Zheng He conducted seven different voyages for the Yongle court. This map represented his travels, including some of the cities and states that he visited and traded with.

The Early Voyages

Zheng He's first three voyages (1405, 1408, 1409) ventured into pre-established trade routes in Java, Sumatra, and Calicut through the Indian Ocean, solidifying China's diplomatic and trade connections with the regions the fleet visited. The fleet traded silk and spices and met with foreign kings in their own courts. More than once, Zheng He exercised the fleet's might in defeating pirates and quelling disputes in foreign lands, proving the power of the Ming dynasty again and again.

In the fourth voyage (1413), Zheng He's fleet traveled as far as the Persian Gulf, then down the coast of Arabia, and up to Jeddah. Many impressed countries sent diplomats and envoys with Zheng He to return to China, another sign of the Yongle emperor's foreign influence through Zheng He.

The Later Voyages

The fifth, sixth, and seventh voyages (1417, 1421, 1431) led through the Indian Ocean to Eastern Africa, roughly four thousand miles from the Chinese mainland. From Africa, Zheng He returned with splendors and exotic animals, gifts from African kings to the Chinese imperial court. The giraffes that Zheng He brought to the Yongle court were of great cultural significance; the giraffe's appearance was similar to a creature of Chinese mythology, the qilin. To the Chinese, it meant good fortune and further justification of the Yongle emperor's divine rule.

Zheng He's seventh voyage was his last. Taking place a decade after his last expedition, and under the reign of the Yongle Emperor's successor, the seventh voyage was more of a legacy trip than anything else. Representing the might of the Ming Dynasty once more, Zheng He sailed to Java and India, where Zheng He split from his fleet and made a holy pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Mohammed.

Zheng He Accomplishments

Zheng He died during his seventh expedition in 1433 after a lifetime of adventures and great accomplishments. Having risen from castrated captive to admiral of the world's greatest fleet of his time (and for some time to come), Zheng He's accomplishments came through many trials and adversities. At his fleet's peak, Zheng He commanded over 300 ships and 28,000 men. His accomplished voyages into foreign seas are indicative of the future success that national navies will have in expanding a nation's power and influence.

The admiral's successful voyages solidified the recently risen rule of the Yongle emperor and expanded China's sphere of influence across multiple seas. Zheng He was the first Chinese admiral to reach the coast of Eastern Africa. The great admiral built trade relations and diplomatic ties between distant countries, exhibiting the wealth and power of China.

Zheng He Historical Significance

Zheng He's life was proof of 15^th century China's capability to become a dominant maritime empire, long before European countries had dreams of establishing ports across the globe. He expanded the Ming Dynasty's influence into many countries west of the Chinese mainland, one of the earliest and most impressive globalization efforts by a nation through sea travel. But what happened to his mighty fleet after his death?

After the Yongle emperor's death in 1424 and subsequent replacement by Xuande, enthusiasm for continued Chinese voyages dwindled away. Zheng He's expeditions had been as grand as they were costly. The royal court sought to repair its Great Wall to prepare against future Mongolian invasions, and investments in voyages no longer seemed worthwhile to the Ming Dynasty. Zheng He's fleet was destroyed by China (they did not even want to maintain the ships within their ports) and China quickly returned to its previous isolationism.

Although Zheng He's influence may seem short-lived, his significance to world history is undisputed. Mainly, his initial successes beg the question: what if China had continued these massive voyages? What if the Ming Dynasty had not destroyed its fleet before the rise of European maritime empires? Would China have dominated the 17^th to 19^th centuries as the center of colonial expansion and global trade?