Zheng He: The Legendary Chinese Admiral Who Explored the World

born with the name maha zhang ha was the child of a muslim family living in the yunnan province of 14th century china

he was born in 1371 and would have five additional siblings one brother and four sisters

the family was of fairly noble status and multiple elder relatives of jonghyun had the title of from their

pilgrimages to the holy city of mecca while another served in the old mongol empire administration as a child zheng

ha received a solid education and developed a curiosity connected to philosophy and religion making him

additionally inquisitive about the world itself outside of his homeland unfortunately for the young boy though

he would not be able to act on these interests quite yet instead in 1381 an army from the ming

dynasty marched into yunnan with the goal of conquest and the local mongols fought back inciting a bloody conflict

at some point during this chaotic campaign either while supporting the mongol forces or simply caught in the

crossfire zhenghu's father was killed as the contest raged on a ming general faryou dare noticed the young jungha on

a road at which point he approached the child to ask for the whereabouts of the defiant mongol prince despite his

extreme youth zhonghu stayed loyal to his leader and refused to give the general a location as a result the child

was taken into main custody and would eventually be castrated and forced into the service of the prince of yan judi

possibly to the boy servant's advantage though chudi was fairly young himself only 11 years older than zhang ha

as the two began to spend more and more time together zhang heu quickly gained the trust and respect of his elder and

in turn chu d secured the boy's loyalty and support as their friendship blossomed

it wasn't long before the protagonist then found himself on the battlefield alongside his new ally as they fought to

defend chudi's territory of bei ping from the nearby mongols though he spent significant time building his glowing

reputation in battle he also received the remainder of his education while in bei ping

as he grew up the captive turned friend to the prince remains loyal and when shudi became the emperor in 1402

jeongha was still at his side and as a thank you for his unwavering support shudi granted his friend the position of

grand director of the directorate of palace servants and gave the future explorer the new name of jung it was

after this monumental milestone was reached that zhang heu would finally have the chance to truly explore the

world that he had once fantasized about as a child after becoming emperor the leader was focused on expanding the

chinese influence and control over the growing sino-arab trade particularly throughout the indian ocean in order to

enact this plan the emperor opted to sponsor a series of expeditions that would be led by none other than zhang ha

himself in total 3 500 ships would be constructed for these voyages and some of them were beyond

remarkable for example one of these vessels was a nine masted 400 foot long flagship over 300 feet longer than the

santa maria utilized by christopher columbus on his first expedition 62 of these ships would be utilized in

addition to nearly 200 vessels of other sizes and purposes the voyage began in the summer of 1405 initially departing

from souzou with roughly thousand crew men in total this first journey would take zhang her

and his fleets throughout southeast asia to brunei java

siam india the voyagers traded frequently along the

way as was the purpose of the expedition after spending roughly a year back home the navigator and his men set off on

their second expedition and lasting for another year followed immediately by their third adventure which wouldn't end

until 1411. during these back-to-back trips zhang-hu and his fleet traveled in

relatively the same direction and path as the first with more or less the same outcome

after approximately a year break once more the explorers launched yet another trip throughout the same general area

although this time they also visited the maldives and lacadive islands this journey would take zhang her and his

fleets throughout southeast asia and the horn of africa and arabia the voyagers traded frequently along the way as was

the purpose of the expedition and zheng her at one point even managed to obtain a giraffe from malindi which he was able

to bring back to china where many believed it to be a key ling a mythical creature

additionally on his way home he picked up a variety of representatives from a handful of the nations he had visited

all of whom hoped to meet the emperor in person this served a great purpose and was viewed as an unexpected success

because it allowed the emperor to expand his knowledge about these countries whilst also building foreign

relationships and influence these envoys were brought back to the emperor in 1415 and zhang her was asked to return them

to their own homes in 1417. this returning of the envoys also kicked off zhang hur's fifth expedition again

mostly replicating the first although adding a few more destinations to his list such as kenya zhang heu was also

able to meet and trade with more people of higher status including encountering and relaying messages to multiple rulers

along his path this venture ended in 1419 but of course was followed by another

now in 1421 he set sail for the sixth time this trip went essentially the same as the prior

five had aside from returning the few envoys who had stayed in china longer back to their homes the situation that

the fleets met upon their arrival to china was drastically different though as while they were gone the emperor had

passed away and his successor did not greet zhang her and his men with the same enthusiasm

as chudi had in fact this new ruler decided that it was time to stop the expeditions all together

this new emperor the hong shi emperor was staunchly against the voyages of these trade and treasure fleets that

zhang her would lead instead he wanted zhang her to serve as a commander defending the borders of nanjing as he

had done in his past military days during this time zhang had did get himself into a bit of

political trouble the nature of which we only know stemmed from his disputes about payment for workers rebuilding a

temple in nanjing and the next ruler the chuan de emperor got off on the wrong foot with the explorer as a result but

nevertheless the discord was eventually resolved the two seemed to rebuild their trust in each other shortly after this

second new emperor was also more open to the idea of additional expeditions by the trading and treasure fleets than the

hong shi emperor had been and by 1430 the chuan de emperor decided to make zhong ha the commander of a seventh

voyage across the indian ocean zhang her furthermore gains the titles of grand director and san bao tae jian the

following year as he readied for the journey ten years after being more or less banned from adventure zhanghua

would have one last chance to explore this time though he went on a similar path as before either during his

expedition or shortly after returning the great adventurer and general zhang ha

passed away in either 1433 or 1435 after a life lived to the fullest although immediately after zhong hu's

death his remarkable life of adventure was not well shared word of mouth storytelling and later publications of

such stories of his expeditions would solidify zhang ha as one of the most magnificent voyagers throughout all of

china and possibly the world he also made history for the incredibly remarkable size of many of the ships

within his fleet a size so extravagant that many historians questioned whether it was even an accurate measurement

until pieces of ships fitting the exact description were found in the region zhang managed to spread the influence of

china and chinese trade throughout the areas he traveled to and he was also able to help the emperor to build

important foreign relationships either through his own meetings with kings and generals abroad or through his efforts

to bring envoys back and forth to meet the eager 2d emperor all in all zhong ho was an important part of the history of

china and exploration unfortunately due to the lack of written records of his adventures he doesn't always get the

credit he quite deserves nevertheless the navigator left a legacy that will now remain in the history

books from this point on alongside the likes of marco polo christopher columbus ibn batuta and other fantastical

adventurers of their time [Music]