Map of sea campaigns of Admiral Zheng He.


Speaking about the personality of Admiral Zheng He and his long sea voyages, it should be borne in mind that:

Igor Mazharov:
Admiral Zheng He, by the way, is an example of how to quickly and efficiently destroy the glorious pages of national history. After all, there are still no reliable sources in China about the geography of his travels. In essence, everything is restored from indirect sources, almost from conjecture. It is not surprising that the Chinese cling to literally every artifact that helps them restore the history of those great achievements (I'm talking about a Chinese ship off the coast of Africa, which the Chinese are now raising).

Zheng He (Zheng He, 1371-1433) - eunuch, admiral, traveler// Historical figures of China. 09/08/2015.
A descendant of a Persian diplomat, not a Chinese by nationality, a Muslim by religion - he was castrated as a child and became a eunuch at court. Thanks to an enviable mind and outstanding personal data, he was able to become a favorite of the Chinese emperor.
Zheng He entered the history of China as an outstanding navigator. In 1405, at the age of 34, by order of Emperor Zhu Di, the "chief ambassador" and commander-in-chief Zheng He, heading a fleet of more than 200 ships and a crew of 27,800 people, set off on the first sea expedition. In the next 28 years, Zheng He made 7 such expeditions to the areas of the Western Seas (during the Ming dynasty, this was the name of the sea zone west of the island of Kalimantan). His fleet traveled to Southeast Asia, Indian Ocean, plowed the water expanses of Asia and Africa, reached the Red Sea and the shores East Africa. Traces of the presence of Zheng He's fleet remained in more than 30 countries and regions of Asia and Africa. It was an outstanding feat in the history of navigation.
Completely here:

Zheng He // ABIRUS. 09/08/2015.

ZHENG HE (Chinese - ??) (1371-1433) - Chinese traveler, naval commander and diplomat, who led seven large-scale sea military and trade expeditions sent by the emperors of the Ming dynasty to the countries of Indochina, Hindustan, Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
Zheng He's father was a Muslim and had the surname Ma. According to some sources, the Ma family came from the western regions and some sources claim that his ancestor was the great Persian diplomat Said Ajal al-Din Omar, who became the first governor of the emperors of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in Yunnan province. In 1382, when Chinese troops entered the southern province of Yunnan, Zheng He fell into the service of Zhu Di (later the Yongle Emperor) and was castrated. According to the inscription on Zheng He's father's tombstone, compiled in 1405 and discovered in 1894, Zheng He was born in 1371 in Kunyang County (now Jinning County), Yunnan Province. He "served diligently and showed ability, was modest and cautious, did not avoid difficult cases, for which he gained a good reputation among officials." He was surrounded by Zhu Di during the campaign of 1400-1402, participating in battles on the side of the future emperor. During the New Year celebrations in 1404, many participants in this war were awarded awards and titles. Among them was a young eunuch, who from that time received the surname Zheng and was promoted to the highest palace eunuchs - taijiang.
Aggressive foreign policy Emperor Yong-le dictated an increasingly active expansion of China's borders. The emperor sent a giant flotilla to Southeast Asia to develop new trade routes. Zheng He was appointed commander.
In 1405, Zheng He first received an order to lead a fleet of 62 large ships, auxiliary ships that carried water and food, and 27,000 soldiers to the Malay Peninsula. The ships that housed Zheng He's expedition were called "precious". Each of them, 138 meters long, 56 meters wide, was equipped with 9 masts and could accommodate from 400 to 500 people.
Although the development of new trade routes and the expansion of Chinese political influence were the main goals of the emperor, some historians believe that these grand sea expeditions had another goal.
According to this assumption, Zheng He was sent to search for the deposed Emperor Jianwen, because his body was never found. At that time, rumors began to circulate that Jianwen was not actually killed in the battle for Nanjing, but went on the run and was hiding somewhere in southwestern China. So, it continues to be a threat to the new emperor.
In the period 1405-1433. Zheng He made seven expeditions across the Indian Ocean. His fleet consisted of 317 ships and nearly 28,000 soldiers and sailors. Most big ship reached 130 meters in length. Amazing! Against the backdrop of Zheng He's ship, Columbus' famous flagship Santa Maria would have looked like a lifeboat.

Scheme. Comparison of Zheng He's ship and Christopher Columbus' flagship Santa Maria

Zheng He never managed to find any trace of Emperor Jianwen. However, he reached the Philippine Islands, Malaysia, the Mozambique Channel, the southern coast of Africa, and also crossed the Indian Ocean several times.
He even managed to surprise the Arabian sailors and Venetian merchants, whom he met in the waters of the Straits of Hormuz and Aden. It is worth emphasizing that all this happened 90 years before Columbus and 116 years before Magellan.
However, Zheng He's travels, which were popular among the emperor, were not popular among officials. The old rivalry between the palace eunuchs and the bureaucratic nobility for influence on the emperor and the court had an effect. The high cost of sea expeditions, as well as the fact that they were led and controlled by eunuchs rather than ordinary officials or generals, caused widespread discontent.
After the death of Emperor Yong-le, Zheng He made two more sea voyages. He died during his last expedition. His grave is located in Nanjing, but it is empty. According to legend, the admiral's body was buried at sea, according to maritime tradition.
Dissatisfaction with sea expeditions and envy of the glory of the admiral of the court circles after the death of Zheng He played their decisive role. During the planning of the next expedition, the official bureaucracy managed to “lose” navigation charts and other documents necessary for the expedition. The expedition was postponed, as it turned out, forever. As a result, many of the logbooks containing information about the voyages of Zheng He and his fleet were destroyed. That is why the information about those regions and countries visited by the naval commander is so contradictory. The data that we now possess were drawn mainly from the writings of Zheng He's contemporaries, as well as from sources found only in the 1930s.
The vigorous activity of Zheng He and his numerous sea expeditions are reflected in the novel Notes on the Voyage of the Eunuch of the Three Jewels to the Western Ocean, which consists of 100 chapters. It depicts the impressive campaigns of the Chinese navigators of the 15th century, and the background of the action of this fantasy novel is a description of a variety of countries (there are more than twenty). After the documents and archives of Zheng He's expedition were destroyed by the ruling elite, the appearance of a novel outlining the history of these travels was seen by some readers and critics as a challenge to the authorities. Numerous heroes of the novel were united by a sea campaign, and the compositional core of the book was the path from the mouth of the Yangtze, along the coasts of Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, East Africa and back to China.
Today, there are several research centers in the world named after Zheng He. In honor of the admiral, warships in China and Taiwan, a Chinese research vessel, as well as one of the "long-range" liners Boeing 777-200LR "Worldliner" are named. In addition, on July 11, the day Zheng He set off on his first voyage, China celebrates the Day of the Sea. In memory of the famous naval commander.
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Photo: Igor V. MAZHAROV, Head of the ABIRUS Project http://www.abirus.ru, Director of the consulting company "Avenda Ltd." (Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China).

Mazharov Igor Vitalievich (

Throughout its centuries-old history, the Chinese empire did not show much interest in distant countries and sea travel. But in the 15th century, its ships sailed seven times in the Indian Ocean, and each time the squadron of giant junks was led by the same person - diplomat and admiral Zheng He, who was not inferior to Columbus in the scope of his expeditions.

After the liberation of China from the Mongols and the proclamation of the Ming Empire in 1368 under the rule of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the main task of the new government was "to restore the international prestige of China as a sovereign state and stop foreign invasions." The new emperor Zhu Di (Yong-le, ruled from 1403 to 1424), in an effort to strengthen the international position of the Celestial Empire, decided to organize a huge fleet, the purpose of which would be to demonstrate the power of the new empire and demand obedience from the states of the South Seas.

However, this version, although the most common, is not the only one. The same “History of the Ming Dynasty” states that the emperor sent an expedition of Zheng He across the sea, allegedly to search for Emperor Hoi-di, who disappeared without a trace in 1403. This version is the least convincing, since the emperor knew that the relative burned down in the palace during the storming of Nanjing, but did not dare to publicly confirm this, preferring not to refute the rumors about his secret salvation.

In sources not as official as "Ming shi", the economic goals of the expeditions were also reflected. Ma Huan, chronicler of Zheng He's expeditions, for example, says that these voyages were equipped to cross distant seas in order to trade with foreigners. The fact that Zheng He had to not only bring gifts to foreign rulers, but also trade, is also said in Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu. However, due to the assessment of trade as a low and unworthy occupation, adopted in medieval China by philosophical and ethical concepts, these goals were not properly reflected in most sources.

Perhaps the clue lies in some inferiority complex of Yong-le, ascended to the throne palace coup. It seems that the illegal "Son of Heaven" simply did not want to wait with folded arms until the tributaries themselves came to bow to him.

Zheng He

Zheng He was born in 1371 in the city of Kunyang (now Jinying), in the center of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, not far from its capital Kunming. Nothing in the childhood of the future naval commander, then called Ma He, foreshadowed the coming romance with the ocean: in the 15th century, it was several weeks away from Kunyan to the coast. The surname Ma - a transcription of the name Muhammad - is still often found in the Chinese Muslim community, and our hero was descended from the famous Said Ajalla Shamsa al-Din (1211-1279), also called Umar, a native of Bukhara, who advanced during the time of the Mongol great khans Mongke (grandson of Genghis Khan) and Khubilai. It was the conqueror of China, Khubilai, who in 1274 appointed this Umar as the governor of Yunnan. It is known that the father and grandfather of the future admiral strictly adhered to the code of Islam and performed the Hajj to Mecca. Moreover, there is an opinion in the Muslim world that the future admiral himself visited the holy city, albeit with an informal pilgrimage.

At the time of the boy's birth, the Middle Empire was still under the rule of the Mongols, who favored his family. But the beginning of Ma He's life was quite dramatic. In 1381, during the conquest of Yunnan by the troops of the Chinese Ming dynasty, which threw off the foreign Yuan, the father of the future navigator died at the age of 39. The boy was captured by the rebels, castrated and handed over to the service of the fourth son of their leader Hong-wu, the future emperor Yong-le, who soon went to Beiping (Beijing) as governor.

It is important to note one detail here: eunuchs in China, as well as, for example, in Ottoman Turkey, have always remained one of the most influential political forces. Many young men themselves went on a terrible operation, not only in essence, but also in execution technique, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, with luck, the emperor himself. So the “color-eyed” (as representatives of the non-titular, non-Han people were called in China) Zheng He, according to the then concepts, was simply lucky. Young Ma He has proven himself well in the service. By the end of the 1380s, he already stood out clearly among the prince, who was eleven years younger than him. In 1399, when Beijing was besieged by the troops of the then Emperor Jianwen (reigned from 1398 to 1402), the young dignitary staunchly defended one of the city's reservoirs. It was his actions that allowed the prince to survive in order to counterattack the opponent and achieve the throne. A few years later, Yun-le gathered a powerful militia, raised an uprising, and in 1402, having taken the capital Nanjing by storm, proclaimed himself emperor. Then he adopted the motto of the new government: Yun-le - "Eternal happiness." into Chinese New Year On February 11, 1404, Ma He, in gratitude for his loyalty and exploits, was solemnly renamed Zheng He - this surname corresponds to the name of one of the ancient kingdoms that existed in China in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. e.

As for the appearance of the future admiral, he, “becoming an adult, they say, grew to seven chi (almost two meters), and the girth of his belt was equal to five chi (more than 140 centimeters). His cheekbones and forehead were wide, and his nose was small. He had a sparkling look and a voice as loud as the sound of a great gong.

Treasury of Admiral Zheng He

The ruler was in a hurry - the armada was built in a big hurry. The first order to create ships was issued in 1403, and sailing began two years later. By special imperial orders, fishing parties for timber were dispatched to the province of Fujian and to the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The beauty and pride of the squadron, baochuan (literally “precious ships” or “treasuries”), were built at the so-called “precious ships shipyard” (baochuanchang) on ​​the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. It is this last fact, in particular, that determines that the draft of the junks, with their gigantic size, was not very deep - otherwise they simply would not have passed into the sea through this tributary of the Yangtze.

Historians and shipbuilders cannot yet reliably determine all the characteristics of the ships of the Zheng He armada. A lot of speculation and discussion in scientific world is due to the fact that scientists know how similar junks were built before and after Zheng He. However, specially built ships plied the South Seas and the Indian Ocean, about which only the following is known for sure (taking into account the calculations made on the basis of excavations of the ruder post in the Nanjing shipyard).

The length of the large Baochuan ships was 134 meters, and the width was 55. The draft to the waterline was more than 6 meters. There were 9 masts, and they carried 12 sails made of woven bamboo mats. Baochuan in Zheng He's squadron different time was from 40 to 60. For comparison: the first transatlantic steamer Izambard Brunel "Great Western", which appeared four centuries later (1837), was almost half as long (about 72 meters).

The measurements of medium ships were 117 and 48 meters, respectively. There were about 200 such junks, and they are comparable to ordinary Chinese ships. Team similar ship, in 1292, carrying Marco Polo to India, consisted of 300 people, and Niccolo di Conti, a Venetian merchant of the XIV-XV centuries, who traveled to India and Ormuz, mentions five-masted junks with a displacement of about 2000 tons. The Admiral fleet consisted of 27-28 thousand people personnel, which included soldiers, merchants, civilians, officials and artisans: in terms of number, this is the population of a large Chinese city of those times.

Chinese ships were built completely differently than European ones. Firstly, they did not have a keel, although sometimes a long bar called lungu (“dragon bone”) was built into the bottom to soften the impact on the ground when mooring. The structural strength of the ship was achieved by adding wooden fortifications-wells on the sides along the entire length at the level of the waterline or above it. The presence of bulkheads, stretching from side to side at regular intervals, was very important - they protected the ship from flooding in the event of damage to any one or more rooms.

If in Europe the masts were located in the center of the vessel, built into the keel with their base, then in the Chinese junks the base of each mast was connected only to the nearby bulkhead, which made it possible to "scatter" the masts on the deck, regardless of central axis symmetry. At the same time, the sails of different masts did not overlap each other, they opened like a fan, the windage increased, and the ship received correspondingly greater acceleration.

The Chinese ships, designed to operate in shallow waters, differed in proportion from European ones: their draft and length were proportionally inferior to their width. This is all we know for sure. The translator of the notes of Ma Huan, Zheng He's companion, John Mills, supplements these data with the assumption that there were 50 cabins on the baochuan.

First expedition

Cheng-zu's first decree on equipping the expedition was issued in March 1405. By this decree, Zheng He was appointed its head, and the eunuch Wang Jihong was appointed his assistant. The preparations for the expedition, apparently, had already begun earlier, since preparations were completed by the autumn of that year.

The ships were built at the mouth of the Yangtze, as well as on the shores of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and then pulled to the anchorages on the Liujiahe, where the flotilla was assembled.

The flotilla included sixty-two ships, on which there were twenty-seven thousand eight hundred people. The largest ships were forty-four zhang (one hundred and forty meters) long and eighteen zhang wide. The ships of medium size, respectively, had thirty-seven and fifteen zhangs (one hundred and eight and forty-eight meters). The figures are even more surprising when you consider that the greatest length of the caravel of the first expedition of Columbus "Santa Maria" did not exceed eighteen and a half meters, with a maximum width of 7.8 m.

As stated in the Ming Shi, Zheng He led 62 large ships on the first voyage. However, in the Middle Ages in China, each large ship was accompanied by two or three more small, auxiliary ones. Gong Zhen, for example, speaks of auxiliary vessels that carried fresh water and food. There is evidence that their number reached one hundred and ninety units.

Leaving Lujiajiang, the fleet sailed along the coast of China to Taiping Bay in Changle County, Fujian Province. Here the ships stood until the winter of 1405/1406, completing their preparations and waiting for the beginning of the northeast monsoons. This season lasts from mid-November to February, but usually the flotillas did not set sail after the beginning of February. It must have been in December 1405 or early 1406, having filled the holds with food, fuel and fresh water, the flotilla went to the open sea and headed south.

From the coast of Fujian, Zhang He's fleet set off for Champa. Passing through the South China Sea and rounding about. Kalimantan from the west, he approached the east coast of about. Java. From here, the expedition headed along the northern coast of Java to Palembang. Further, the path of the Chinese ships lay through the Strait of Malacca to the northwestern coast of Sumatra to the country of Samudra. Having entered the Indian Ocean, the Chinese fleet crossed the Bay of Bengal and reached the island of Ceylon. Then, rounding the southern tip of Hindustan, Zheng He visited several rich trading centers on the Malabar coast, including the largest of the bottom - the city of Calicut. A rather colorful illustration of the Calicut market is given by G. Hart in his book “ sea ​​route to India": "Chinese silk, thin cotton fabric of local production, famous throughout the East and Europe, calico fabric, cloves, nutmegs, their dried husks, camphor from India and Africa, cinnamon from Ceylon, pepper from the Malabar coast, from the Sunda islands and Borneo, medicinal plants, Ivory from the interior of India and Africa, bundles of cassia, sacks of cardamom, heaps of copra, ropes of coir, heaps of sandalwood, yellow and mahogany." The wealth of this city makes it clear why Zhu Di sent the first expedition there.

In addition, on the first voyage on the way back, the Chinese expeditionary forces captured famous pirate Chen Zui, who at that time captured Palembang, the capital of the Hindu-Buddhist state of Srivijaya in Sumatra. “Zheng He returned and brought Chen Zu” and in shackles. Arriving at the Old Port (Palembang), he called on Chen to submit. into battle, and Zheng He sent troops and took the fight.Chen was utterly defeated.More than five thousand bandits were killed, ten ships burned and seven captured...Chen and two others were captured and taken to the imperial capital, where they were ordered decapitate.” So the envoy of the metropolis protected the peaceful migrant compatriots in Palembang and at the same time demonstrated that his ships carried weapons on board not only for beauty.

Second expedition

Immediately after returning from a campaign in the autumn of 1407, Zhu Di, surprised by the outlandish goods brought by the expedition, again sent Zheng He's fleet on a long voyage, but this time the flotilla consisted of only 249 ships, since a large number of ships in the first expedition turned out to be useless. The route of the second expedition (1407-1409) basically coincided with the route of the previous one, Zheng He visited mostly familiar places, but this time he spent more time in Siam (Thailand) and Calicut.

The Chinese expeditions returned home by the same route as before, and only incidents along the way make it possible to distinguish in the chronicles the voyages “there” from the return ones. During the second voyage, geographically similar to the first, only one event occurred, the memory of which has been preserved in history: the ruler of Calicut provided the envoys of the Celestial Empire with several bases, relying on which, the Chinese could continue to go even further to the west.

Third expedition

But the third expedition brought more interesting adventures. Under the date July 6, 1411, the chronicle records:

“Zheng He... returned and brought the captured king of Ceylon Alagakkonara, his family and freeloaders. During the first trip, Alagakkonara was rude and disrespectful and set out to kill Zheng He. Zheng He understood this and left. Moreover, Alagakkonara was not friendly with neighboring countries and often intercepted and robbed their embassies on the way to China and back. In view of the fact that other barbarians suffered from this, Zheng He, on his return, again showed contempt for Ceylon. Then Alagakkonara lured Zheng He deep into the country and sent his son Nayanara to demand gold, silver and other precious goods from him. If these goods had not been given out, more than 50,000 barbarians would have risen from their hiding places and captured Zheng He's ships. They also sawed down the trees and intended to block the narrow paths and cut off Zheng He's escape routes so that separate detachments The Chinese could not come to each other's aid.

When Zheng He realized that they were cut off from the fleet, he quickly deployed troops and sent them to the ships ... And he ordered the messengers to secretly bypass the roads where the ambush was sitting, return to the ships and convey the order to the officers and soldiers to fight to the death. In the meantime, he personally led the 2,000-strong army by detours. They stormed the eastern walls of the capital, took it with a fright, broke through inside, captured Alagakkonara, his family, freeloaders and dignitaries. Zheng He fought several battles and utterly defeated the barbarian army. When he returned, the ministers decided that Alagakkonar and the other captives should be executed. But the emperor took pity on them - on ignorant people who did not know what the Heavenly mandate to rule was, and let them go, giving them food and clothes, and ordered the Chamber of Rituals to choose a worthy person in the Alagakkonara family to rule the country.

It is believed that this was the only case when Zheng He consciously and decisively turned away from the path of diplomacy and entered into a war not with robbers, but with the official authorities of the country in which he arrived. The above quote is the only documentary description of the actions of the naval commander in Ceylon. However, besides him, of course, there are many legends. The most popular of them describes the scandal associated with the most revered relic - the tooth of the Buddha (Dalada), which Zheng He was either going to steal or really stole from Ceylon.

The story is this: back in 1284, Kublai sent his emissaries to Ceylon to get one of the main sacred relics of Buddhists in a completely legal way. But the Mongol emperor - the famous patron of Buddhism - was still not given a tooth, compensating for the refusal with other expensive gifts. This ended the matter for the time being. But according to the Sinhalese myths, the Middle State secretly did not abandon the desired goal. They generally claim that the admiral's voyages were undertaken almost specifically for the theft of a tooth, and all other wanderings were for averting eyes. But the Sinhalese allegedly outwitted Zheng He - they "slipped" him a royal double instead of the real king and a false relic, and hid the real one while the Chinese were fighting. Compatriots of the great navigator, of course, hold the opposite opinion: the admiral nevertheless got the priceless "piece of Buddha", and even in the manner of a guiding star, he helped him safely get back to Nanjing. What actually happened is unknown.

Fourth expedition

Later, Zheng He's fleet visited even more distant countries: during the fourth expedition (1413-1415), they reached the city of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

Fifth expedition

During the next (1417-1419) - visited Lasa (a point in the area modern city Mersa Fatima in the Red Sea) and a number of cities on the Somali coast of Africa - Mogadishu, Bravo, Chzhubu and Malindi.

The sixth and seventh voyages of Zheng He are the least studied. There are practically no sources left of them. Not so long ago, the book "1421: the year when China discovered the world" appeared in print. It was written by a retired British officer, submarine commander Gavin Menzies, who assured that Zheng He was even ahead of Columbus, discovering America before him, he supposedly outstripped Magellan, rounding Earth. Professional historians dismiss these constructions as untenable. And yet, one of the admiral's maps - the so-called "Kan" nido map - indicates at least that he had reliable and reliable information about Europe. The search for truth is very complicated by the complete destruction of official information about the last two voyages, which, Did the Chinese get to the Mozambique Channel in East Africa? Researchers also know the testimony of Fra Mauro, a cartographer monk from Venice, who wrote in 1457 that a certain "junk from India" thirty years earlier swam two thousands of miles inland.It has also been argued that Zheng He's maps formed the basis of European nautical charts the era of the great geographical discoveries. And finally, the last riddle. In January 2006, a map from 1763 was presented at one auction, allegedly an exact copy of a map from 1418. The owner, a Chinese collector who bought it in 2001, immediately related it to Menzies's conjectures, because it featured the outlines of America and Australia, and with Chinese transcriptions of the names of the natives there. The examination confirmed that the paper on which the scheme was made is authentic, of the 15th century, but doubts remain about the ink. However, even if this is not a fake, then perhaps just a translation of some Western source into Chinese.

Sixth expedition

During the sixth voyage (1421-1422), Zheng He's fleet again reached the coast of Africa.

The sixth journey of Zheng He is the least covered in the sources, since the attention of the chroniclers was riveted to the death of the emperor, because of which, perhaps, the navigator was forced to urgently return to his homeland. The purpose of the trip, according to Genvin Menzies, in addition to geographical discoveries, was also the delivery of ambassadors and foreign rulers home after attending the opening ceremony Forbidden city. As before, the first destination of Zheng He's fleet was Malacca, where the Chinese established a transshipment base for ships carrying spices from the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.

The Chinese, in addition to their special patronage of Malacca and Calicut on the southwestern coast of India, created and, one way or another, maintained an extensive network of smaller port cities, covering Southeast Asia and the countries of the Indian Ocean basin. Zheng He used these ports as bases for his Golden Fleet, where his ships could stock up on food and fresh water all the way from China to East Africa. Having replenished their provisions and water in Malacca, the Chinese sailed for five days and anchored at Semudera, where the admiral divided his army into four fleets. Three of these great fleets set sail under the command of the Great Eunuch Hong Bao, the eunuch Zhou Man and the eunuch Zhou Wen. Zheng He left the fourth fleet under his command. All 3 fleets first of all had to deliver the foreign nobles and ambassadors who were on board to their homeland - to the ports of India, Arabia, and East Africa. After that, the fleets were to meet off the southern coast of Africa in order to proceed with the second part of the emperor's assignment - to sail through "unexplored waters to the ends of the earth."

According to the ancient Chinese map "Mao Kun", this is exactly what this segment of the route looked like. Having gathered in Calicut for trade, the Golden Fleets again split up to deliver ambassadors to their homeland. After the envoys were delivered to their native land, according to the Mao Kun map, all the ships gathered at Sofala (modern Mozambique). Since the map ended on this segment of the journey, Menzies was forced to look for a new source of information, which for him was the map of the Venetian cartographer Fra Mauro, drawn by him at the beginning of 1459. The explorer was attracted by how detailed and accurate the Cape of Good Hope was drawn on the map, given the fact that the cartographer himself did not travel the world and was an office worker. Fra Maro pointed out that information about the Cape and the junks had been provided to him by the Venetian ambassador da Conti, who at that time lived in Calicut and, at the suggestion of Menzies, could return to Italy on a Chinese junk and have information provided by the Chinese. In August 1421, the Chinese, drawn by the South Equatorial Current, rounded the West African Horn, and, finding themselves in the zone of the Senegal Current, moved north to Cape Verde. There, near the village of Janela Menzies discovered a carved slab with ancient inscriptions (called local residents Ribeira di Peneda), as a result identified as writings of the Malayalam language, a common language in the area of ​​Kerala (of which Calicut was the capital), since the 9th century.

As evidence of the visit of the Chinese to the New World, Menzies cited a medieval map of Piri Reis, on which one can trace the contours of the western coast. South America and Antarctica. The author of the sensational book claims that the Ottoman cartographer was based on materials collected by the Chinese. The writer explained the purpose of the Chinese travel to the uninhabited lands of Patagonia by searching for a guiding star that could replace the polar star south of the equator line (Canopus and the Southern Cross).

According to the Menzies hypothesis, setting geographical latitude Canopus, the fleets of the admirals of the Golden Fleet Zhou Man and Hong Bao separated and, independently of each other, moved along a given latitude towards China. Since Zhou Man's fleet did not deliver a single envoy to China, the researcher concluded that the naval commander moved westward to explore and map the Pacific Ocean, he returned to his homeland through the Spice Islands. Admiral Hong Bao's fleet moved towards Antarctica to establish the exact position of the Southern Cross, and then returned home, moving east through the waters of the southern seas, visiting Malacca and Calicut. Based on maps, including such ancient ones as the map of Admiral Piri Reis, the Chinese pilot Wu Pei Chi, etc. Menzies proves that the Chinese fleets reached not only the New World, but also Antarctica and Australia, and were the first to circumnavigate the world.

However, an unprofessional approach to criticizing sources, pulling up facts according to dictated necessity, were clear evidence that the creation of a British sailor is in many ways just a proposal generated by market demand. Menzies has been criticized for "an irresponsible way of looking at evidence" that led him to hypothesize "without a shred of evidence". Collaboration with the publishing house that published the work of Dan Brown was the reason for the corresponding analogies.

Seventh voyage

Be that as it may, contrary to Menzies' assertion, Zheng He's sixth voyage was not the last expedition of the Chinese admiral. Like the previous voyages, the seventh expedition of Zheng He (1431-1433) and the expedition of his closest assistant Wang Jianghong that followed it were crowned with success. The embassy relations of the countries of the South Seas with China revived again, and the rulers of these countries arrived at the imperial court from Malacca (1433) and Samudra (1434). However, the situation that had developed at the beginning of the 15th century was never restored. By this time, at the court of the emperor, the group of close associates of Zhu Di was growing stronger, who insisted on reducing the expeditions and returning to the policy of isolationism. After the death of Zhu Di, under the influence of such court moods, the new emperor insisted on stopping the expeditions, as well as destroying all evidence of their conduct.

Meaning

The description of Zheng He's expeditions was compiled in 1416 by his companion and translator Ma Huan, from the Dinglings. Ma Huan's book is notable for its accuracy in observing the customs of the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Zheng He's travels were perhaps the first page in the history of the Great Geographical Discoveries. He did not set himself the task of securing a foothold in the southern seas and creating a durable trading empire, which is why Chinese influence in the countries he visited did not last even half a century. Nevertheless, the information he received about the southern and western countries led to the intensification of trade with Indochina and to the growth of Chinese emigration to these parts. The trends that began with the voyages of Zheng He continued until the 19th century.

On all voyages, the grandiose armada departed from the South China Sea. Through the Indian Ocean, the ships went towards Ceylon and southern Hindustan, and the last trips also covered the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. Zheng He walked every time in a "knurled" way: catching the recurring monsoon winds that blow from December to March at these latitudes from the north and northeast. When the moist subequatorial air currents rose over the Indian Ocean and, as it were, turned back to the north in a circle - from April to August, the flotilla accordingly turned to the house. This monsoon schedule was known by heart to local sailors long before our era, and not only to sailors: after all, it also dictated the order of agricultural seasons. Taking into account the monsoons, as well as the pattern of constellations, travelers confidently crossed from the south of Arabia to the Malabar coast of India, or from Ceylon to Sumatra and Malacca, adhering to a certain latitude.

A logical question arises: why was the planet discovered, explored and settled by the Portuguese, Spaniards and the British, and not by the Chinese - after all, the voyages of Zheng He showed that the sons of the Celestial Empire knew how to build ships and provide for their expeditions economically and politically? The answer is simple, and it comes down not only to the difference in the ethnopsychology of the average European and the average Chinese, but also to the historical and cultural situation of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Europeans have always lacked land and resources to support their rapidly developing economy, they were driven to capture new territories by tightness and the eternal lack of material goods (gold, silver, spices, silk, etc.) for everyone who craved them. Here you can also recall the free spirit of the heirs of the Hellenes and Romans, who from ancient times sought to populate the Mediterranean, because they went to conquer new lands even before the first dhows and caravels left the stocks. The Chinese also had their own problems - overpopulation and land hunger, but despite the fact that they were always separated from the tempting neighboring territories only by narrow straits, China remained self-sufficient: the subjects of the son of Heaven spread across Southeast Asia and neighboring countries as peaceful settlers, not as missionaries or hunters for slaves and gold. The incident of Emperor Yongle and his admiral Zheng He is the exception, not the rule. The fact that the baochuan were large and that there were many of them did not mean that China sent them to distant countries to seize land and set up overseas colonies. In this regard, the nimble caravels of Columbus and Vasco da Gama beat the giant junks of Zheng He on all fronts. It was this disinterest of the Chinese and their supreme power in the outside world, the concentration on themselves that led to the fact that the grandiose passionary outburst of the Yongle Emperor's time did not find continuation after his death. Yongle sent ships over the horizon in defiance of the mainstream imperial policy, which ordered the son of Heaven to receive ambassadors from the world, and not send them out to the world. The death of the emperor and the admiral returned the Celestial Empire to the status quo: the briefly opened shell doors slammed shut again.

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The rapid development of Chinese navigation begins in the era of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). And in the first third of the 15th century, the Chinese literally shocked the world with their gigantic sea expeditions led by the outstanding Chinese naval commander Zheng He. During seven voyages made in 1405-1433, Chinese sailors visited the Sunda Islands, Malacca, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, the countries of the Persian Gulf, Aden, Somalia, Malindi (Kenya). Some members of the expedition even visited the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

What a colorful sight! Hundreds of ships with their sails raised slowly move away from the shore - the greatest fleet of all time. On the bow of each ship, the eyes of a dragon sparkle, instilling fear in the souls of enemies and driving away evil spirits. Around - a lot of small cargo boats, designed to accompany the expedition. They carry thousands of tons of food and water. Thousands of people who set off on a long journey should not have lacked anything ...

"Fan" - sail. A character with this meaning appeared in China around 1000 BC. The first Chinese sails were very reminiscent of mats woven from reeds. And the type of classic Chinese junk - with a flat bottom and almost vertical bow and stern - was finally formed only by the beginning of our era.

The voyages of Zheng He remained unsurpassed in terms of the number of ships and people participating in them: for example, 317 ships with 27,870 people on board took part in the first expedition, 249 ships in the second, 48 ships and 30 thousand people in the third, and 30 thousand people in the fourth. 63 ships and 28,560 people, in the seventh - more than 100 ships and 27,550 people. Against the background of these astronomical figures, it is even somehow indecent to recall the three caravels of Columbus and only a hundred members of their crews ...

The great eunuch of the imperial court, Zheng He, was a Muslim native of the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Over the 30 years of his service, Zheng He went on distant sea expeditions at least seven times - either as an ambassador or as a fleet commander. He first went to sea in 1405: the emperor ordered him to find his runaway nephew, who claimed the throne. According to rumors, he disappeared "somewhere beyond the sea."

The squadron of Zheng He that came out in search of him was clearly disproportionate to the task: it included 62 large ships each 440 feet long and 180 feet wide, and there were 17,800 people on board. And that's not counting a large number auxiliary ships that carried food supplies, fresh water, goods for trade with the natives, gifts to foreign rulers. With the summer monsoon, Zheng He's fleet moved southwest: to Indochina, Java, Sumatra, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and Calicut.

The ambassadors of the Chinese emperor were given the warmest welcome in the countries where they arrived. “Without exception, foreigners competed who would be ahead of others in presenting wonderful things stored in the mountains or hidden in the sea, and rare treasures located in the expanse of water, on land and sand,” reports the Chinese chronicle. So, the ruler of Tyampa, the state in South Vietnam, went to meet Zheng He on an elephant. Behind him on horseback rode the most noble courtiers paraded hundreds of soldiers. Drums blared, flutes sang. It seemed that the whole power was ready to glorify the great guest.

In two years, the Chinese visited about thirty countries and islands. “In the ninth month of 1407, Zheng He and the others returned. Ambassadors from all countries came with them and appeared before the emperor... The emperor was very pleased, awarding everyone with titles in accordance with merit, ”says the History of the Ming Dynasty.

Again and again Emperor Zheng He sent to the distant seas. His ships moored to the coast of the Nicobar and Maldives, Persian Gulf countries, visited Aden, Mogadishu (Somalia), Malindi, Zanzibar. Zheng He's squadron visited the Ryukyu Islands, which lay near Japan, the Philippines, Borneo and Timor. From distant voyages, Zheng He delivered countless treasures to the imperial court. “The indescribable treasures and goods he acquired are hard to count,” says the History of the Ming Dynasty.

Only from the island of Java did the Chinese admiral bring “rhinoceros horn, tortoise shells, eagle tree, dill, blue salt, sandalwood, capsicum, tree gourd, Borneo camphor, bananas, betel nuts, sulfur, dye safflower, sapan tree, Moluccan sugar palm , ceremonial swords, wicker mats, white and gray parrots, monkeys. "The banner of happiness", "a sign of perfect order and harmony, established in the world and the empire", Chinese chroniclers considered ... a living giraffe brought from Africa. In China, they saw this outlandish beast for the first time.

On February 2, 1421, Zheng He's ships set out on their fifth voyage - to the coast of Arabia. In the sources, it is documented quite accurately: the ships reached Aden, entered the African harbor of Mogadishu (Somalia). Swimming lasted exactly one and a half years. Upon his return in 1423, gifts from 15 countries visited by the expedition were delivered to the emperor's court. It would seem, what else is there to say? But it was Zheng He's fifth voyage that already today gave rise to a lot of all sorts of rumors and speculations. A retired British sailor, Gavin Menzies, put forward a hypothesis as fascinating as it is groundless: in his opinion, Zheng He's ships during the fifth voyage ... circled the globe and visited America, Australia and Antarctica!

Since the whole history of Zheng He's fifth campaign is well known, Gavin Menzies embarked on a trick: in his opinion, these discoveries were made by separate squadrons that separated from the Chinese fleet. Finding out whether this is so or not is not possible. Well, since we go beyond the limits of the possible, then the widest scope for imagination opens up here ...

In general, the unconvincing hypothesis of Menzies caused a flurry of criticism from historians, and especially from Chinese historians. However, be that as it may, by the XV century. some mysterious maps do appear in China. Among the lands depicted on them, you can guess Australia, and perhaps even America! And in March 2006, specialists from the New Zealand University of Waikato announced that the Chinese map of 1763, which they studied, which depicts America, Australia and New Zealand, may be a genuine copy of another, earlier Chinese map - 1418 ....

Franciscan missionaries who visited China in the 16th century were the first Europeans to come into possession of evidence pointing to Chinese contacts with Australia. Among them was a rather crude map of the Green Continent engraved on copper. In 1961, an ancient porcelain vase was discovered in Hong Kong, which depicts a map that vaguely depicts the outlines of the East Coast of Australia. Another similar "porcelain map" is located in Taiwan. It is said to represent the south coast of New Guinea, the east and southeast coast of Australia as far as the Melbourne region, and a rough outline of Tasmania. Another "porcelain map", dated 1477, represents part of the western coast of America, some of the Pacific islands, including New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea, the islands of Southeast Asia, and the coast of China. And on the "Fra Ricci map" stored in the Vatican Library (this map was created by the Jesuit missionary Ricci in 1602 in Beijing on the basis of the then Chinese maps), a part of the northern coast of Queensland is depicted.

Modern researchers believe that on the eve of the Age of Discovery, the navigators of the Celestial Empire had no equal in the world. Almost all types of Chinese ships were theoretically capable of crossing the Pacific Ocean from west to east and reaching the shores of America. In part, the fact of such voyages is confirmed by the finds in the New World of Chinese items - coins, figurines, weapons, as well as characteristic anchor stones. Apparently, the Chinese, conducting a brisk maritime trade, already in the first centuries of our era sent reconnaissance expeditions to the northeast. Some of them made it to the shores North America and returned back. However, the difficult sailing conditions and the lack of prospects for trade led to the cessation of such expeditions.

There is no doubt that in the X-XV centuries. the Chinese fleet had sufficient potential to make voyages to the coast of Australia. Dr. Alan Thorne, Australian National University, believes that the Chinese are already quite early times made exploratory flights to Indonesia and to the coast of the Australian continent. Their guides in unfamiliar waters could be the Javanese, with whom the Chinese traded for centuries and who undoubtedly had much best knowledge about the lands to the south. In any case, notions of the existence of a distant and mysterious "land in the south" appear at very early times in Chinese history.

In 1424 Emperor Chengzu, the patron of the famous naval commander, died. When, in 1433, Zheng He returned to China for the last time, it was already a different country - a country fenced off from the whole outside world. For almost five centuries, China remained isolated. During this time, his economy fell into decay. A dilapidated country, plundered by its own officials, became an easy prey for other powers. Only towards the end of the 20th century. China has begun to gradually approach the leading states of the world. If Zheng He did not discover America, then at least he discovered a simple truth: any isolationism leads to disaster, no matter how beautiful slogans it hides behind...

magazine LIFE, then in 14th place, just behind Hitler, we will meet the name of Zheng He. Who is he and what did he do to deserve this calling? We all know the era of the Great Discoveries, Magellan, Columbus, Portugal and Spain divide the whole world in half and milk it to the maximum. And what did Greater China do 100 years earlier in the Ming Dynasty?

Zheng He's fleet made 7 voyages from China to Southeast Asia, Ceylon and South India. During some journeys, the fleet reached Ormuz in Persia, and its individual squadrons reached several ports in Arabia and East Africa.

According to Gavin Menzies, author last book about Zheng He called "1421", he sailed across the entire Indian Ocean, sailing to Mecca, the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Arabia and across the entire Indian Ocean decades before Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama, and his ships were five times the size!

According to historians, among the reasons for organizing these expeditions was both the desire of Zhu Di to gain international recognition of the Ming dynasty, which replaced the Mongol Yuan dynasty, as the new ruling dynasty of the "Middle State", and the assertion of the legitimacy of his own stay on the throne, usurped by him from his nephew of Zhu Yunwen. The latter factor may have been exacerbated by rumors that he did not die in the fire of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, but was able to escape and is hiding somewhere in China or beyond. The official "History of Ming" (compiled almost 300 years later) states that the search for the missing emperor was one of the goals of Zheng He's expeditions as well. In addition, if Zhu Yunwen was alive and looking for support abroad, Zheng He's expedition could interfere with his plans and show who is the true ruler in China.

Stationary full scale model of a "medium sized treasure ship" (63.25 m long) built ca. 2005 at the site of the former Longjiang Shipyard in Nanjing. The model has reinforced concrete walls with wood paneling.

The sailing fleet, led by the eunuch Zheng He, was built at the beginning of the 15th century in the Chinese Ming Empire, and consisted of no less than 250 ships. This fleet was also called golden.

There are different opinions among historians about the number of ships in Zheng He's fleet. For example, the author of the popular biography of Zheng He (Levathes 1994, p. 82), following many other authors (for example, the authoritative history of the Ming era (Chan 1988, p. 233), calculates the composition of the fleet that participated in the first expedition of Zheng He (1405 -1407) as 317 ships, adding up 62 treasure ships mentioned in the "History of Ming" with "250 ships" and "5 ships" for ocean voyages, the order of which is mentioned in other sources of the period. However, E. Dreyer, analyzing the sources, thinks what to fold In a similar way figures from various sources are incorrect, and in reality the mention of "250 ships" means all the ships ordered for this expedition.

Baochuan: length - 134 meters, width - 55 meters, displacement - about 30,000 tons, crew - about 1,000 people
1. Cabin of Admiral Zheng He
2. Ship altar. The priests constantly burned incense on it - so they appeased the gods
3. Hold. Zheng He's ships were full of porcelain, jewelry, and other gifts for foreign rulers and a display of the emperor's might.
4. The rudder of the ship was equal in height to a four-story house. Used to make it work complex system blocks and levers
5. Observation deck. Standing on it, the navigators followed the pattern of the constellations, checked the course and measured the speed of the ship.
6. Waterline. The displacement of the baochuan is many times greater than that of contemporary European ships
7. The sails woven from bamboo mats opened like a fan and provided a high windage of the vessel

"Santa Maria" Columbus: length - 25 meters, width - about 9 meters, displacement - 100 tons, crew - 40 people

The beauty and pride of the squadron, baochuan (literally “precious ships” or “treasuries”), were built at the so-called “precious ships shipyard” (baochuanchang) on ​​the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. It is this last fact, in particular, that determines that the draft of the junks, with their gigantic size, was not very deep - otherwise they simply would not have passed into the sea through this tributary of the Yangtze. And finally, everything was ready. On July 11, 1405, in the Chronicle of Emperor Taizong (one of the ritual names of Yongle), a simple entry was made: “The palace dignitary Zheng He and others were sent to the countries of the Western (Indian) Ocean with letters from the emperor and gifts for their kings - gold brocade, patterned silks, colored silk gauze - all according to their status. In total, the armada included up to 255 ships with 27,800 people on board.

A junk from a Sung-era drawing shows the traditional design of a Chinese flat-bottomed vessel. In the absence of a keel, a large rudder (at the stern) and side screws help the stability of the vessel.

Chinese shipbuilders realized that the sheer size of the ships would make them difficult to maneuver, and so they installed a balance rudder that could be raised and lowered for greater stability. Modern shipbuilders do not know how the Chinese built a ship's hull without the use of iron, which could carry a vessel of 400 feet, and some even doubted that such ships even existed at that time. However, in 1962, in the ruins of one of the shipyards of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing, a ruder post of a treasure ship was discovered, which was thirty-six feet in length. Using the proportions of a typical traditional junk (a typical Chinese ship), after making repeated calculations, the estimated hull for such a rudder was five hundred feet (152.5 meters).

Steering wheel on modern model Treasure Ship (Longjiang Shipyard)

What is strange, comparing the expeditions of Vasco da Gama and the expedition of Zheng He, the American historian Robert Finlay writes: “The da Gama expedition marked an undeniable turning point in world history, becoming an event symbolizing the onset of the New Age. Following the Spaniards, the Dutch and the British, the Portuguese began to build an empire in the East ... In contrast, the Ming expeditions did not entail any changes: no colonies, no new routes, no monopolies, no cultural flourishing and no global unity ... The history of China and the world history would probably not have changed if Zheng He's expeditions had never taken place at all."

Christopher Columbus' sailboat compared to Zheng He's (ft).

In connection with the voyages of Zheng He, Western authors often ask the question: “How did it happen that European civilization, in a couple of centuries, drew the whole world into its sphere of influence, and China, although it began large-scale ocean voyages earlier and with a much larger fleet than Columbus and Magellan soon stopped such expeditions and switched to a policy of isolationism?", "What would happen if Vasco da Gama met a Chinese fleet on his way, similar to Zheng He's fleet?"

Popular literature even suggested that Zheng He was the prototype of Sinbad the Sailor. Evidence of this is sought in the similarity of sound between the names Sinbad and Sanbao and in the fact that both made seven sea voyages.

Discoveries of Chinese sailors

China was a densely populated country with a fairly highly developed culture. It bordered Manchuria to the north and Vietnam to the south. And the famous Great Silk Road passed through Central Asia, from China to Europe. Judging by the surviving documents, Chinese sailors usually sailed along the coast of southeastern and southern parts of Asia. At the same time, their path led, as a rule, from the Pacific to the Indian.

The sea road was the most convenient for merchants and discoverers. The faithful companion of the sailor even then was the compass, developed and first made by the Chinese.

Chinese junk

One of the most distant and longest journeys modern scientists consider is the journey of the Buddhist monk I Ching, who in the period from 689 to 695 was able to reach Sumatra, moving along the coast of Indochina and Malacca. Yi Jing was struck by the beauty of the island, completely covered with the greenery of tropical and mangrove forests. Arriving in Sumatra, the monk disembarked and stopped at the cultural and economic center of the island, the city of Srivajai (the modern name is Palembang). For several months, I Ching lived in Sumatra, studying the language, literature and culture of the islanders. After that on board merchant ship the monk went on his journey. So, he visited the Indian Ocean, and then through the Bay of Bengal came to the mouth of the Ganges River. And only after that I Ching decided to return to his homeland in order to write a detailed story about his distant, but interesting journey.

The Chinese emperor Mu Wang, who ruled the country in the X century BC. e., preferred land travel to sea travel. So, one day he became the organizer and head of the expedition, which made a difficult transition to the Kunlun mountains and the far northern regions.

Historians claim that even at the beginning of the new era, Chinese ships regularly went to the islands of Indonesia, as well as to the Philippine Islands, to India, to Ceylon. In addition, often the ships of Chinese travelers plowed the expanses of the Arabian Sea and came close to the coast of the African continent. Wherein main goal maritime wanderings was trade. Usually silk, porcelain and metals were brought from China, and gold, herbs, rhinoceros horns, elephant tusks and wood were brought.

Until now, one of the most unique sea crossings is considered to be a trip organized by the eunuch, who was in the service of the king's court, Zhe He. The Chinese expedition then consisted of 317 well-equipped ships, on board of which there were about 27,000 people well-versed in various fields of knowledge: navigation, navigation, military affairs, cartography and geography.

India

At that time, the Chinese junk was considered one of the most reliable ship models in the world. In terms of size, she was slightly superior to European ships of the same class, but in terms of maneuverability she was not inferior to them at all. On such a junk, Zhei He traveled the seas, visiting the coast of Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, South-West Africa, the Persian Gulf, and was also able to go around the Cape of Good Hope.

This text is an introductory piece.