Zheng
He (1371-1435 AD), an eunuch in Ming dynasty, built more than
1622 ships and made at least 7 major excursions between 1405 AD
and 1430 AD, reaching Somalia and probably Europe (France, Holland
and Portugal). In each trip, he led a troop of 27,800 people on
more than 300 ships. In each trip, 62 major ships of this fleet
were employed, each about 475 ft long and 193 ft wide, holding
1000 people per ship, dwarfing Columbus' Santa Maria (75 ft x
25 ft) more than 6-fold !
The
countries and territories covered and recorded in the official
Ming history includes Java, Sumatra, Vietnam, Siam, Cambodia,
Philippines, Ceylon, Bangladesh, India, Yemen, Arabia, Somalia,
Mogadishu. As a clear demonstration of his travel to Africa, among
the souvenirs he brought back to China were the giraffes and lions,
indigenous animals of Africa.
The
official history also mentioned "Franca" (which was
the territory to describe today's France and Portugal) and Holland.
The Hollanders were described as tall people with red hair and
beard, long nose, and deep eye sockets. If he did meet with the
Europeans in their native countries, then the only way would be
to navigate around the Cape of Good Hope before the Suez Canal
was a throughway.
He
did not really set out to explore unknown lands - neither did
Columbus, for that matter--for the Chinese were aware of most
of the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. For centuries,
China had been a principal producer and consumer of goods moving
east and west from Mediterranean, African, and Middle Eastern
trading centers. With this trade came cultural and ideological
exchange. Zheng He, like many Chinese of his time, was a Muslim,
and his father and his father before him had made the pilgrimage
to Mecca. But in Zheng He's day, the trade routes were controlled
by Arabian, Persian, and Indian merchants.
Private Chinese traders had been barred from traveling to the
West for several centuries. China had been conquered by Ghengis
Khan and his descendants in the 1200s, and the Mongol emperors
of the subsequent Yuan dynasty were the first to impose these
constraints. In 1368 the Chinese expelled the Mongol rulers and
established the Ming dynasty, which was destined to rule for the
next 300 years. (Thus, in 1492 Columbus was searching for a "Grand
Khan" who had been put out of business 124 years earlier.)
After the period of Mongol rule, China became strongly isolationist,
placing even more severe restrictions on Chinese traders. Meanwhile,
as the Chinese were pushing down the east coast of Africa, Portuguese
mariners were tentatively exploring the west coast. They had started
the process in the early fifteenth century and were steadily working
their way south. Bartolomeu Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope
in 1488 and was the first of these mariners to see the Indian
Ocean, Surely the Europeans and Chinese were poised to meet somewhere
in southern Africa, where perhaps they would have set up trading
depots for their mutual benefit. This did not happen, however.
Emperor Yong'le died in 1424, and by 1433 the ming dynasty discontinued
its efforts to secure tributary states and trading partners around
the Indian Ocean. In Beijing, those favoring an isolationist foreign
policy won out, and the massive funding needed to support Zheng
He's fleet - difficult to sustain during what was a period of
economic decline in China--was canceled
Unfortunately,
Zheng He's magnificent accomplishment was later targeted by other
courtiers as wasteful. Most of his records were destroyed and
building of ships with more than 3 masts were considered crimes
punishable by death. So, a large part of his excursion (which
might include the America part) has no reports.
In
Africa near Kenya today, there are tribes that are clearly Asian-looking.
They also consider themselves as the descendants of Zheng He's
crew.
The
Chinese voyages must be regarded as a spectacular demonstration
of the capacity of early Ming China for maritime expansion, made
all the more dramatic by the fact that Chinese ideas of government
and official policies were fundamentally indifferent, if not actually
opposed, to any expansion of territories that was definitely the
first goal of European explorers / kings in 15th and 16th century.
This
contrast between capacity and performance, as viewed in retrospect
from the vantage point of our modern world of trade and overseas
expansion, is truly striking...
(source
: http://marauder.millersv.edu & http://www.chinapage.com/history/zhenghe2.html) |
