Monday, March 11, 2013

The Journey to India- Noah Stein

I was born in the 15th century, under the Yongle Empire, In China.  I was the Emperors admiral, a very prestigious position.  I commanded the largest fleet of our time, about 2,000 boats in all, the most grand and luxurious were those called the "treasure ships".  The emperor's desire were for foreigners to come and be awed by the masses of of naval force.  My first voyage was from China, it began in July of 1405, with over 27,000 men.  Much was expected of me and I admit I was quite nervous.

          The Expedition... We journeyed for India, we had taken many goods with us to trade along the way.  We traded with Champa and the island of Java, the people of Champa had aloe wood which was very rare, they also had the horn of a rhinoceros along with ivory of an elephant.  All was offered to our emperor as tribute.  When we arrived in Calicut, India we traded our goods for a multitude of foreign goods.  In the straits of Malacca I encountered a notorious pirate, Chen Zuyi, I easily sank his fleet and killed the majority of his crew.  We eventually captured him and brought him to Nanjing where he was executed.  We then Installed a man (loyal to the Chinese of course) who played a great role in my victory, in return we promised protection. 

           Overall we gained many foreign objects, items such as coral and precious jewels.  India benefited from my journey as well, they obtained both foreign goods, and we also took a danger away from the traders, by which I mean Chen Zuyi.  We now know we can trade with the people of India when we please, hopefully without running into any pirates.




















Bibliography:
Zheng He Maritime Expeditions (Overview)." World History: Ancient and Medieval ErasABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2013

2 comments:

  1. it is quite astonishing to see the jewels of places, that may seem close but are very different to us. the stagety of taking capive and murdering the crew of the pirate, was similar to mine, but of couse i was on land, it seems to be successful.
    ~hernando cortes

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  2. WOW, it is very interesting to see the type of expedition that you led vs mine. Where you had many many men and woman to accompany you where my conquests had many less. I am glad that your conquest was a success and you profited greatly from the many goods obtained. Maybe someday you can be half as good as an explorer as i am. -Hernando Cortes

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