Zheng He's Contribution To The Allies

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.

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.

The domination of Portugal over Ming China during the late post-classical through the early modern era in expeditions to the Indian Ocean is a result of both countries motivations and perceptions. Ming China was motivated to seize all expeditions in order to maintain order and control of Chinese citizens before external influences created chances for chaos, while Portugal was able to win the upper hand on expeditions to the Indian Ocean as a result of the motivation for glory and economic gain. Ming China’s royal members spread negative perceptions of expeditions into the country that prompted civilians to fear leaving the country.

In 1403, Emperor Zhu Di, ordered the construction of the Treasure Fleet – a fleet of trading ships, warships and support vessels that would travel across the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. Zheng He was given command over the armada and oversaw its several voyages. With every new destination, Zheng He bestowed gifts,

There was a huge demand for luxury Asian goods in India, that would lead Europeans to trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and goods. Because of this, an economy was revolved around trading, known as a mercantilist economy, where European nations would have rivalries in order to obtain silver in the Americas. This would then lead to European countries trying to thrive in the Indian Ocean with joint stock companies and trading posts in order to control the area and help out their economy.

It was ordered by the Emperor that he should explore the eastern part of the world. He was a skilled leader. He carefully planned out his voyages. This shows that he was well prepared to explore and had great leadership skills. He's crew consisted of tenders, military commanders, assistants, officers, doctors, financial officers, and fortune tellers.

Exploration has been an important action to take part of since the beginning of time. We have to explore to find out what’s out there right? We could potentially obtain so much knowledge, and so many resources. You can only obtain the maximum potential of something if your motives and ideology are correct. A great example of someone who had the potential to do so much good, and obtain so much greatness was a Chinese admiral by the name of Zheng He. Zheng He watched his father die at the hand of the Ming Dynasty, along with being castrated himself. Zheng He was forced to join thousands of eunuchs, and then rose quickly through the ranks of the military. The emperor basically assigned Zheng He the task of leading a fleet of exploration

Zheng He impacted exploration in China by sailing in Treasure fleets and by making other realize that China was to one and only center of

When Admiral Zheng He was first commissioned to bring the people of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, India, Arabia, and East Africa to China for the tribute system. He never thought of the impact it would cause within his own country. The Chinese Emperor Yongle launched the expeditions in 1405 with the help of his most trusted men the eunuchs. These men were very much disliked by the official bureaucrats.

Emperor Yongle intended to awe the rulers of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean into sending tribute to China (Dreyer, p. 27). Zheng He and his fleets needed to establish Chinese presence and influences in those countries in order to enforce the tributary system. Although China had no interest in imperial expansion through oceanic exploration like the Europeans did, navy power was traditionally associated with the strength of a nation. Therefore, the gigantic treasure ships, the significant scale of Zheng He’s crew as well as the Chinese goods he brought to the foreign countries all served the political needs to display wealth and power of the Middle Kingdom.

I believe that many scientific principles affected the exploration such as weather, climate but mostly technology affected Zheng He’s expedition. China was very advanced in navigation technology at the time. Various advanced technologies of the time were used by Zheng He to successfully complete his expeditions. He inherited the practice of previous navigators in Chinese History and assimilated their Ocean Knowledge (Ding, Shi, & Weintrit, 2016). Zheng He used the Haido Zhengjing (a kind of navigation manual) and Guoyang Qianxing Shu (Star Orientation) to navigate in the Ocean. Zheng He used compass to guide through the Ocean in the right direction, and made use of the star observation to keep course at night. Having solved problems such as fresh water this allowed him to sail even more smoothly. Shipbuilding technology was also a great influence on his

Both traded along the Indian Ocean using maritime trade. As the Ming traded along the Indian Ocean, they attained luxuries, for example silver, in exchange for Chinese exports such as cotton, silk and porcelain. The Ming Emperor, Zheng He, also sailed across the Indian Ocean. He is best known for the 7 sailing expeditions, which navigated across the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asian archipelago. Zheng He's ships carried export goods; silks and porcelains, and he also brought back foreign luxuries such as spices and tropical woods. As for the Ottoman Empire, they also traded along the Indian Ocean; however, with items they had already attained. Armenians and Jews would often go to the port of Izmir, along the Ottoman Empire, and bring wool, beeswax, cotton and silk, causing great traffic. The Ottomans then traded these items in exchange for other luxurious items. Another similarity between the Ottoman and the Ming was why they traded along the Indian Ocean. Both traded along the Indian Ocean due to geography. The Ottomans were located closely to the Indian Ocean; they also had the right technology to trade along it, including ships and compasses. The Ming also traded along the Indian Ocean due to their geography. They were located nearest to the Indian Ocean, which then caused them to trade along it; also Zheng He had also laid out the groundwork for the Chinese to start trading

Asia was the center of trade, business and craft. Many countries tried to find a direct route to Asia, in order to increase trade. Whereas, China decided to uphold isolationism. Its population was one hundred million people in four million miles of square land. China did not want more land, nor more subjects to govern. In fact, China had more people than it can govern. Yongle Emperor sent Zheng He to purchase various spices, goods and conduct trade. Zheng He was a Muslim Chinese eunuch trusted by the

Zheng He served as eunuch in the emperor’s court from 1381 and by 1390; he stood out as an accomplished soldier who was exceptional in war and diplomacy. In 1403, a new emperor rose to power and ordered the construction of a treasure fleet which comprised of fleets of trading ships, warships and support ships which were to be used for foreign travel and trade and appointed Zheng to be the leader or commander of the Treasure fleet . Zheng He’s voyage took place between the 14th and the 15th century but Columbus voyage is believed to have taken place in the late 15th century since the wreckage of Santa Maria, which is believed to be one of Columbus cargo ships dates back to the 15th century .

In 1505, Magellan joined the expedition of Francisco d’Almeida to India. Also in 1512, Ferdinand decided to try sailing around the world. Sadly Portugal refused to finance