Zheng He (1371 - 1433) was a Chinese mariner, explorer and diplomat who served the Ming dynasty as admiral of the treasure fleets. Born a Muslim in Yunnan and castrated as a boy after the Ming conquest of the province, he rose to become a trusted commander under the Yongle Emperor. [1] Between 1405 and 1433 he led seven expeditions carrying hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of men to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf and East Africa, projecting Ming power and drawing distant states into the tributary system. [2]
Early life
Zheng He was born in 1371 in Kunming, in the province of Yunnan, into a Muslim family of Central Asian descent; his birth name was Ma He. Both his father and grandfather were said to have made the pilgrimage to Mecca, a background that later proved useful in dealings with Muslim ports across the Indian Ocean. [1]
When Ming armies took Yunnan in the 1380s he was captured as a child, castrated, and placed in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan. He served the prince in the campaigns that brought him to the throne as the Yongle Emperor in 1402, and was rewarded with the surname Zheng and appointed to senior command. [2]
The treasure voyages
The first fleet sailed from the Yangtze in 1405. Chinese accounts describe armadas of more than sixty large treasure ships and scores of support vessels carrying some twenty-seven thousand men, among the largest wooden fleets ever assembled. The ships carried silk, porcelain and other goods, and returned with spices, precious stones, ivory and exotic animals, including giraffes that were presented at court. [3]
Over seven voyages the fleets called at Champa, Java, Sumatra, Malacca, Ceylon, Calicut and other Indian ports, and later at Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, Aden, Jeddah, and the Swahili coast of East Africa at Mogadishu and Malindi. [1]
The expeditions were primarily diplomatic and commercial rather than colonial, seeking recognition of Ming supremacy and the establishment of tributary relations. They nonetheless involved force: Zheng He's forces defeated the pirate Chen Zuyi at Palembang, intervened in a conflict in Ceylon, and installed rulers favourable to the Ming. [2]
End of the voyages and death
After the death of the Yongle Emperor in 1424 the voyages were suspended. Court officials objected to their expense and argued that resources were better spent on the northern frontier and internal administration. A final expedition sailed in 1431 under the Xuande Emperor. [3]
Zheng He died in 1433, most accounts placing his death during or shortly after the return of that last voyage; he is associated with a tomb at Nanjing. Ming China subsequently turned away from long-distance maritime expansion, and records of the voyages were allowed to decay. [1]
Legacy
The voyages left lasting Chinese communities and commercial links across Southeast Asia, and Zheng He is venerated in temples in Malacca, Java and elsewhere in the region. [2]
Modern China has invoked him as a symbol of peaceful maritime engagement and open trade. Historians continue to debate the true dimensions of the treasure ships and the reasons the Ming abandoned a naval capability far beyond that of any contemporary state. [3]
