Are Zheng He’s Voyages Deserving of Celebration? Essay

In the map and chart created by National Geographic titled “China’s Great Armada”, Zheng He traveled to Mombasa Kenya which is ~19,000 miles roundtrip(Doc A). This accomplishment is important because far seafaring expeditions of this extent were nearly unheard of in the 15th century due the lack of technology and knowledge. Therefore Zheng He’s skills as a great explorer are undoubtable. Moreover in the chart it exhibits that Zheng He transversed Calicut, Hormuz, Malindi, Mogadishu, and Mombasa(Doc A). All of these countries were over ~11,000 miles roundtrip and therefore, Zheng He displays that he can consistently travel far distances(Doc A).

The 15th century was a prosperous time for trade and travel for the whole world round, even if some believed the world was flat. Columbus came from this time period in which he was born in Italy to a poor family. Despite living in such an impoverished lifestyle, the young Columbus was flourished in rich learnings of the times and languages. From these beginnings he grew to be a mariner in his twenties. Columbus was in his thirties when he first began his trials to find an Atlantic path to Asia. His only predicament was that he needed a way to finance such a journey to Asia via the Atlantic ocean. Any merchant would be in awe of the idea of an easier path to Asia, but the most notable problem was, was it possible to find such a path within a range that a ship

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

Lastly the third reason why Magellan led himself to his deathbed. Magellan’s navigational skills were poor. According to Over the Edge of the World, By Harper Collins “he regularly sent small scouting parties in the long boats”, “they would go and come back with news of the findings.. And the rest would follow” Gines de Mafra recalled. This evidence shows that Magellan had planned the way easily, but doing it was difficult. Magellan purely relied on his search parties to go throughout the way. You might argue that he still got through and reached the spice islands, but he reached there with just a handful of men in his Armada.

According to Doc A, he went 105,300 miles all together. His ship and crew were much larger than Columbus’s. Doc B says Zheng He’s ship was 315 feet bigger than the Santa Maria. Doc C states that there were many different types of people on the ship, such as doctors, soldiers, fortune tellers, sailors, servants, horse groomers, and many more. Zheng He has the largest fleet of wooden ships in the world. Finally, in Doc D, it shows that his voyages were a valuable trading opportunity.

It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory

Magellan went way farther than Zheng He did and he only went one time while Zheng He went multiple times. Magellan went farther than Zheng He with far fewer ships and fewer men. Zheng He was very good at getting where he was going because of a number of times he went, but Magellan had great navigational skills when going around the world. In Document G, it shows a map with the route of Magellan’s journey and the exact path he took in his attempt to make it all the way around the world. How far he went shows how much skill he had and shows how much he had prepared and planned for the voyage. Not only did he have amazing navigational skills, but he was great in predicting the length of bodies of land. Document I states, “Magellan's extraordinary skill as a good strategist proved to be the decisive factor in negotiating the entire length of the Dragon’s

In the book, When China Ruled the Seas, Levathes tells us about seven voyages made by junk armadas during the Chinese emperor Zhu Di's reign. 'Treasure ships' as they were called, were under the command of admiral Zheng He, these ships traded silk, porcelain, and many other fine objects of value. They sailed from India to East Africa, throughout Korea and Japan, and possibly as far as Australia. She believes that China might have been able to create a great colonial realm one hundred years before the Europeans explored and expanded, from China's navy of some three thousand ships.

The treasure ships were able to wield a power on a world of people in just seven voyages. However when Zhu Di died, a new emperor learned in the ways of Confucianism, took control. In nine months the new emperor disbanded most of the fleet, and forced ruthless margins on trading and foreign journeys. Even though the fleet attempted one last expedition, it was never given another proper opportunity at prominence. The fleet

Exploration is a key aspect to ensuring the constant and consistent development of the human race, but is it really necessary to branch out into the cosmos rather than focusing on the Earth itself. Expanding is essentially the ability to understand the unknowing and to grasp unworldly ideas, but without the means to reach those goals: justification, funding, and manpower, what is the point of committing funds to an unforeseen mission such as Space Exploration. Space Exploration is an issue that Humanity faces because it targets the what ifs about the future rather than focusing on the dangers of the present. Drought, famine, poverty, and war, will all continue to plague the world, and will remain tackling issues on present day Earth, and by using immense funding and manpower on what is not certain, is detrimental to humanities growth. Although, yes, NASA has created breakthroughs with innovations in relation to technological advancements, it is not certain that exploring space will ensure new innovations, because space itself is still theoretical and far too vast for ideal comprehension. Proper funding is mandatory for growth and expansion, but not important for the funding of Space exploration, rather it is more important to focus on pressing matters ranging from genocides: The Rwandan Genocide, to extreme poverty and famine: humans on Earth who do not have enough to live. If funding is granted to Space exploration by the public, it will remove essential funding to those

I researched Zheng He for my Wax Museum Project. His original name was Ma He. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” This quote represents how he learned many new things because of his traveling. Zheng He was an important figure in history because he helped the Chinese people expand their knowledge.

Despite the fact that Zheng He had ships that were almost five times the size of Columbus’s and that Zheng’s crew was more than three hundred times larger than the crew of when Columbus went on his voyages, this doesn’t change the fact that Zheng He made the choice to kill many people, not supply many doctors for the voyage, and had ships too big to trade in certain

The voyages of Zheng He were so remarkable because of their size. Everything about them was large, the distance, the ship and the fleet. About 40 - 300 ships sailed at a time including fighting ships, storage vessels and treasure ships. Everywhere he went he distributed gifts to show Chinas wealth. Also, during his voyages he completed his Muslim

After the Zheng He debate, I am anti-menzie. I believe that menzies and the opposing team at the debate had few evidence to support the theory of Zheng He traveling to America. Even with not supporting Menzie, I do still hope that Zheng He actually did travel to America but Menzies’s research/claims about Zheng He is actually incorrect, as I know that many of the sea traveling records were destroyed.

Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the unknown. From sailing to distant lands to someday setting foot on other planets, the spirit of exploration is the same. Bur now with the current economic situation and the high cost of sending people to space, NASA is being looked at as a way to free up some much needed funds. Although, there is many problems here on planet Earth that need addressing, the benefits of space exploration far out weight the disadvantages. Space exploration has given us more advanced technology, advances in the medical field, and a boost to the economy and these facts cannot be disputed.