Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming admiral Zheng He led a huge fleet on seven voyages to the Western Oceans, reaching the east coast of Africa - about 87 years before Columbus reached the Americas.
Zheng He, born Ma, was a Hui Muslim from Yunnan. Taken into the palace as a boy, his competence and loyalty won the trust of the Yongle Emperor, who made him commander of the expeditions.
The fleet was astonishing: over 200 ships and 27,000+ men per voyage; the largest "treasure ship" measured about 120 metres - the biggest wooden vessel of its era.
Route: from Nanjing/Taicang through Southeast Asia (Malacca, Java), India (Calicut, Cochin), the Arabian Peninsula (Oman, Mecca), and as far as Somalia and Kenya in Africa.
Purpose and style: to display prestige and trade, establishing tributary commerce peacefully - no territorial conquest, in sharp contrast to later European voyages.
Legacy: rich records survive, though maritime enterprise was halted by later Ming sea bans. Today, treasure-ship models and the Sam Po temple in Malacca still honour this great navigator.
Zheng He (1371-1433), Ming navigator. From 1405 to 1433 he sailed seven times, reaching over thirty states, nearly a century before Columbus.
Originally Ma He, a Hui from Kunming, Yunnan, he entered the palace as a eunuch after the Ming took Yunnan and, gifted, won the Yongle emperor trust; the emperor granted the surname Zheng.
In 1405 Yongle ordered the first voyage: over two hundred ships, the largest treasure ship about 150 m long and 60 m wide, carrying a thousand - the world largest then.
The fleet had over 27,000 people: sailors, soldiers, interpreters, doctors, cooks - a floating city on the sea.
It carried the era finest technology: compass navigation, star-sighting, detailed charts; it could sail months without landfall.
Routes: first to Southeast Asia, then deep into the Indian Ocean; the fourth to the Persian Gulf; the seventh to Kenya in east Africa.
At each stop he presented gifts, traded, and invited envoys back to China. The Ming formed tributary and trade ties with dozens of states.
He exported silk, porcelain, tea, gold and silver; imported spices, gems, rare animals - and envoys.
The king of Sulu (today Philippines) visited China and died en route, buried in Dezhou, Shandong; his descendants still live there.
In 1433 Zheng He died on the return voyage at Calicut (India) and was buried there. He gave his life to the sea.
After him the Ming abandoned deep-sea voyages; fleet archives were destroyed - a regretted end to China age of sail.
Today Zheng He symbolises peaceful diplomacy. Temples to him, "Sanbao miao", remain in Malaysia and Indonesia. He proved distant voyages can bring friendship, not conquest.
Today, when you see the maritime Silk Road route on a map, remember: six hundred years ago Zheng He had already charted this sea path to friendship aboard his treasure ships.
