Zheng He Research Paper

The first reason for celebration of Zheng He's voyages is his distance and destination. In 7 voyages he traveled over 105,300 miles. Examples of some places and distance he traveled was

Zheng he was so compassionate that he had only about 110 people on each ship (Doc.C). The doctor to patient ratio today is about 1 doctor to 400 patients. On Zheng He’s voyages he had as few as 1 doctor to 152 patients, which is amazing compared to our ratio today (Doc.C). While trading and finding new land usually Zheng He would stay at each port for the shortest of 1 year and at the max at 2 years for trade and for the passengers to have a break from the ship (Doc.A).

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.

Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, was born in 1371 in the Yunan Province of southwestern China (background essay). When Zheng He was ten years old, his father was killed right in front of him by the Ming Dynasty’s army (background essay). He was then taken prisoner, castrated, and forced to become part of the eunuchs (background essay). As he grew older, Emperor Yongle began to trust him more and more (background essay). The Emperor trusted him to travel by ship and lead a crew down the coast of China and across the ocean to eventually land in India in 1405 (background essay). This was one of the seven voyages he would take (background essay). When asked if Zheng He’s voyages should be celebrated, three factors must be taken into account: skill, scale and significance. Skill is the measure of one’s ability to do something. Scale is the measure of actions taken to preform something. Significance is the meaning of an event. The voyages of Zheng He should not be celebrated because there was no new land discovered, the cost of the trips were expensive and wasteful, and the reasons for the voyages mainly purposed Zheng He himself and Emperor Yongle.

The chart under the map on Document A shows that after every stop, they sailed all the way back to Nanjing, China. According to Document A, the two longest explorations consisted of 19,000 miles roundtrip. I feel that these incredibly long voyages were a waste of time and money; they should have just continued to sail through to the next city. Zheng He sailed to a city, gathered whatever he wanted to, and then sailed back only to pass the city he left. This is incredibly ineffective, and illogical in my opinion because this wasted time and money. Referring back to my thesis, Zheng He was definitely not utilizing the maximum potential of his opportunity.

Zheng He may have journeyed far, but with little avail compared to competing captains. As the image in The Voyages of Zheng He: 1405-1433 depicts, his ships sailed to only populated areas with very little undiscovered territory (Document A). Unlike other famed explorers, who became popular off of their discovery of new land, Zheng He remained in an area within proximity of China and made no discoveries worth recognizing. In addition, the chart in When China Ruled the Sea shows Zheng He’s mileage compared to Columbus’s (Document B). He traveled nearly two days slower than his fellow explorer, and made far less progress.

People argue that Zheng He didn't accomplish anything, but in Document B it states, ¨Voyages; 7; (1405-1433).¨ This tells us he was traveling for twenty-eight years out of his whole life, so at least he tried. Also not everything you try gets accomplished, it was just his luck he couldn't explore anything new. From information that I have gathered from Document A, it clarifies that in total, he traveled one hundred five thousand, three hundred miles in total! He was also very intelligent by going back to Nanjing each voyage for new crew, and repairments.. For his great intelligence, that gives one good reason for recognition

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.

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.

During the time of the 15th-century early Ming Dynasty, the Chinese went exploring. A Muslim eunuch from the Yunnan Province called Zheng He assembled a great exploratory navy. The first westward expedition, seeking new trading relationships, set off in 1405, and discovered many new things; however, he went short of the New World. Had Zheng He found the New World, everything would have been different. China would have conquered most of the world, and Europe would cease to exist.

Emperor Yongle sponsored Captain Zheng He’s fleet of over 300 ships and a crew of upwards of 27,000 members, into the South China Sea for purposes of trading in the year 1405. “Zheng He’s expeditions served to establish Chinese power and prestige in the Indian Ocean and to exert Chinese control over foreign trade in the region. The Chinese, however, did not seek to conquer new territories, establish Chinese settle-ments, or spread their culture, though they did intervene in a number of local disputes, p 568” The Chinese took a completely non-militaristic approach to these expeditions. This being a very important factor supporting the thesis. There is strong evidence given here that suggests that Emperor Yongle was not interested in conquering new land and expanding their territories. He was more interested in impressing the rest of the region (being the South China Sea and the coasts of the Indian Ocean) and giving them a message that said China is on top of the economic ladder. This is a key component to why the Chinese empire did not find the New World

Bartholomeu Dias-He was a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household and a Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the tip of Africa in 1488 reaching the Indian ocean.

Even then eventually in 1298 he was captured in battle he was taken to jail and placed with romance writer Rustichello of Pisa. There they took the notes Marco had taken on his adventure and wrote his now famous book then called “Description of the World” now known as “The travels of Marco Polo” or more formally “Travels”. Marco Polo died in January 1324 his body is currently lost. It is speculated that it is in the Church of Saint Lorenzo but the church is currently inaccessible therefore it is unsearchable and unknown where his body is even then if it was there it might have been

So they set off carrying messages from the pope for the Mongol Emperor. They arrive in China in 1274 and are said to spend 17 years in China. Marco Polo met Kublai Khan and states he was even made a governor of a city in China because Kublai Khan liked Marco Polo. At the end of these extensive 17 years they return to Venice and tell their tale. Later Marco Polo gets captured during a civil war in Venice and gets imprisoned.

A Chinese explorer who lived from 1371 to 1433. At an early age, wonders of the new world amused him. He was taken by the government but in 1390 he has proven himself a worthy soldier and leader. Taking seven voyages to Southeast Asia, Arabia and Africa establishing trading relationships, but before his first voyage he established the treasure fleet that included warships, trading ships and vessels for movement. Before he died in 1433, he was on his last voyage arriving to calicut and decided to leave and sail back home but was too late and died at sea. He was known for commanding