In 1999, an American journalist reported a surprising encounter on a tiny African island called Pate, just off the coast of Kenya. There, in a village of stone huts set amongst dense trees, the journalist met a number of elderly men who told him that they were descendants of Chinese sailors, shipwrecked on Pate several centuries ago. Their ancestors had traded with the local Africans, who had given them giraffes to take back to China; then their boat was driven onto the nearby reef. He noted many clues that seemed to confirm the islanders’ tale, including their vaguely Asian appearance, the antique porcelain heirlooms in their homes, and the porcelain shards on the beaches. Evidently, this remote African village retains an echo of one of history’s most astonishing episodes of maritime exploration.
About six centuries ago, a mighty fleet of Chinese ships ventured west to the India Ocean, reaching Ceylon, Arabia, and East Africa. The fleet included giant nine-masted junks escorted by dozens of supply ships, water tankers, transports for cavalry horses, and patrol boats. The fleet’s crew totaled more than 27,000 sailors and soldiers. As a comparison, Columbus’ largest crew was of only about 1,500 people and the Santa María, the largest ship for his first voyage, was much smaller than Zheng He’s largest junk.
Seven times, from 1405 to 1433, the Chinese fleet set off for the unknown. These great expeditions took place about half a century before the first Europeans, rounding the tip of Africa in frail Portuguese caravels, “discovered” the Indian Ocean. The seven expeditions were all led by one man, Zheng He, one of the greatest explorers in Chinese history.
Zheng He was born around 1371 in Yunnan, southwestern China. As a child, he was very curious about the world. He often asked his father and grandfather, who had been to distant places, questions about their journey, along with the people and places they encountered. From a young age, he started reading books by great scholars, such as Confucius and Mencius. Later when he served in the royal court, he received military training and became a trusted assistant and adviser to the emperor. He was also in charge of palace construction and repairs, learned more about weapons, and became more knowledgeable in ship construction.
In 1403, the emperor commanded the construction of the Treasure Fleet. Both the treasure ships and the support vessels – battleships and boats carrying grain and horses – featured divided hulls with several watertight compartments. This engineering innovation had roots in early Chinese seafaring. It allowed mariners to take unprecedented amounts of drinking water on long voyages, while also adding much-needed ballast, balance, and stability.
In 1405, the emperor appointed Zheng He to head a massive fleet of more than 200 junks with a royal order to establish ties with rulers all around the Indian Ocean. It was the start of the seven great voyages of the Treasure Fleet. The junks, loaded with Chinese silk, porcelain, and lacquerware, visited ports around the Indian Ocean, where Zheng He exchanged the goods for spices, ivory, medicines, rare wood, pearls, and exotic animals, sought by the Ming court.
During his career as a naval commander, Zheng He negotiated trade pacts, fought pirates, and brought back gifts to China. He and his crew traveled and traded not only with the cities in what are now Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, but also with the Arabian ports of modern-day Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The rulers he encountered there were impressed by his diplomatic skills and the elaborate gifts he brought them. They agreed to send ambassadors to the Ming court.
In 1431, Zheng He set out with his fleet for the seventh expedition around the Indian Ocean, sailing all the way to Malindi on Kenya’s east coast and stopping at trading ports along the way. Toward the end of this voyage in 1433, Zheng He died of disease.
Zheng He had helped spread the culture and influence of China over a vast realm. But the war in the north then drew military investment away from the maintenance of the fleet and the royal court turned its focus to the construction and expansion of the Great Wall. Inevitably, the navy shrank and all the larger classes of ships were destroyed. This contributed to the end of the epic time of the Ming Dynasty sea voyages.
Zheng He spent years at sea sailing between China and the east coast of Africa, setting up diplomatic relationships that would reshape Asian life. His seven expeditions challenged what humans could do at sea, pushing the limits of their boats’ size, complexity, and capacity for long-distance travel. They were also essential to the spread of two Chinese technologies that helped build our modern world: gunpowder and the compass.
Today, whether people view Zheng He as an emblem of Chinese diplomacy or as a symbol of the country’s spirit of adventure and bravery, one thing is for certain: Zheng He remains one of the greatest explorers in world history, and the voyages he led stand among the great wonders in the history of ocean navigation, contributing significantly to the progress of human civilization.