In the 15th century, Chinese sailors on flat-bottomed ships crossed. Expeditions of Zheng He
Throughout its centuries-old history, the Chinese empire did not show much interest in distant countries and sea travel. But in the 15th century, her ships set sail seven times Indian Ocean, and each time the same person led the squadron of giant junks - the 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 main task the new government was "the restoration of China's international prestige as a sovereign state and the cessation of incursions from outside." 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 answer lies in a certain inferiority complex of Yun-le, who was elevated to the throne by a 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 rebels captured the boy, emasculated 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 technique, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, if you're lucky, 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 eye and a voice as loud as the sound of a great gong.
Treasures 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 "shipyard of precious ships" (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 the scientific world is caused by 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 the squadron of Zheng He at different times 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. The crew of such a ship, which in 1292 carried Marco Polo to India, consisted of 300 people, and Niccolo di Conti, a Venetian merchant of the 14th-15th centuries who traveled to India and Ormuz, mentions five-masted junks with a displacement of about 2000 tons. The Admiral's fleet consisted of 27-28 thousand personnel, which included soldiers, merchants, civilians, officials and craftsmen: 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 strength of the ship's structure was achieved by adding wooden fortifications-wells to 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 vessel 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 bases, 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 across the deck, regardless of the central axis of 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 work 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 certain. 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 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 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. ships medium size respectively had thirty-seven and fifteen zhangs (one hundred 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 big ship was accompanied by two or three more small, auxiliary. 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 be in December 1405 or early 1406, having filled the holds with provisions, 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 path Chinese ships lay across the Strait of Malacca to the northwestern coast of Sumatra in 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 shopping 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 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, coir rope, 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 fall 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.
Home Chinese expeditions returned by the same route as before, and only incidents along the way allow us 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 friends 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 retreat 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, Khubilai sent his emissaries to Ceylon in order 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 official information about the last two voyages, which, apparently, were the most distant. Did the Chinese make it to the Mozambique Channel in East Africa? Researchers also know the testimony of Fra Mauro, a monk-cartographer from Venice, who wrote in 1457 that a certain "junk from India" thirty years earlier had swum two thousand miles deep into the Atlantic. There is also an opinion that Zheng He's maps served as the basis for European nautical charts the era of the great geographical discoveries. And finally 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 the navigator may have been 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 purpose of the Chinese travel to the uninhabited lands of Patagonia, the writer explained by the search for a guiding star that could replace 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 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 facts up 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, who insisted on reducing the expeditions and returning to the policy of isolationism, was growing stronger. 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 in the southern seas and creating a durable trading empire, because the 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. Every time Zheng He walked 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 is this disinterest of the Chinese and their supreme power in outside world, concentration on oneself and led to the fact that the grandiose passionary outburst of the times of Emperor Yongle 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.
Website materials used: http://www.poxod.eu
Zheng He(1371--1435) - Chinese traveler, naval commander and diplomat, who led seven large-scale naval military-trade expeditions sent by the emperors of the Ming dynasty to the countries of Indochina, Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
At birth, the future navigator received the name Ma He. He was born in Hedai Village, Kunyang County. The Ma family came from the so-called sam- people from Central Asia who arrived in China during the Mongol rule and held various positions in the state apparatus of the Yuan Empire. Majority sam, including the ancestors of Zheng He, were of the Muslim faith (it is often believed that the surname "Ma" itself is nothing more than Chinese pronunciation name "Muhammad"). traveler chinese expedition military
Not much is known about Ma He's parents. The father of the future navigator was known as Ma Haji (1345-1381 or 1382), in honor of his pilgrimage to Mecca; his wife's surname was Wen. There were six children in the family: four daughters and two sons - the eldest, Ma Wenming, and the youngest, Ma He.
Entering the service of Zhu Di and military career
After the overthrow of the Mongol yoke in central and northern China and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang there (1368), the mountainous province of Yunnan on the southwestern outskirts of China remained under the control of the Mongols for several more years. It is not known whether Ma Haji fought on the side of the Yuan loyalists during the conquest of Yunnan by the Ming troops, but be that as it may, he died during this campaign (1382), and his youngest son Ma He was captured and fell into the service of Zhu Di , the son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who led the Yunnan campaign.
Three years later, in 1385, the boy was castrated, and he became one of the many eunuchs at the court of Zhu Di. The young eunuch got a name Ma Sanbao i.e. Ma "Three Treasures" or "Three Jewels". According to Needham, despite the eunuch's undeniably Muslim origin, this title of his served as a reminder of the "three jewels" of Buddhism (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), whose names are so often repeated by Buddhists.
The first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang planned to transfer the throne to his firstborn son Zhu Biao, but he died during the life of Zhu Yuanzhang. As a result, the first emperor appointed Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunwen as his heir, although his uncle Zhu Di (one of younger sons Zhu Yuanzhang) probably considered himself more worthy of the throne. Having ascended the throne in 1398, Zhu Yunwen, who was afraid of the seizure of power by one of his uncles, began to destroy them one by one. Soon a civil war broke out between the young emperor in Nanjing and his Beijing uncle Zhu Di.. Due to the fact that Zhu Yunwen forbade eunuchs to take part in the government of the country, many of them supported Zhu Di during the uprising. As a reward for their service, Zhu Di, for his part, allowed them to participate in the decision political issues, and allowed them to rise to higher levels political career, which was also very beneficial for Ma Sanbao. The young eunuch distinguished himself both in the defense of Beiping in 1399 and in the capture of Nanjing in 1402, and was one of the commanders tasked with capturing the capital of the empire, Nanjing. Having destroyed the regime of his nephew, Zhu Di ascended the throne on July 17, 1402 under the motto of Yongle's reign.
On the (Chinese) new year of 1404, the new emperor granted Ma He the new surname Zheng as a reward for his faithful service. This served as a reminder of how, in the early days of the uprising, Ma He's horse was killed in the vicinity of Beiping in a place called Zhenglunba.
As for the appearance of the future admiral, he, “becoming an adult, they say, grew to seven chi (almost two meters. - Ed.), And the girth of his belt was equal to five chi (more than 140 centimeters. - Ed.). His cheekbones and forehead were wide, and his nose was small. He had a sparkling eye and a voice as loud as the sound of a great gong.
After Zheng He was awarded the title of "chief eunuch" for all his services to the emperor ( taijiang), which corresponded to the fourth rank of an official, Emperor Zhu Di decided that he was the best fit for the role of admiral of the fleet and appointed the eunuch as the head of all or almost all of the seven voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in 1405-1433, simultaneously raising him status up to the third rank.
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. To bring it into action, a complex system of blocks and levers was used.
- 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 fleet apparently consisted of about 250 ships, and carried about 27,000 personnel on board, led by 70 imperial eunuchs. The flotilla led by Zheng He visited over 56 countries and major cities Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean basin. Chinese ships reached the coast of Arabia and East Africa.
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 Pacific Ocean in 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 Srivajaya ( modern name- 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, Zhei 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.Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below
Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.
Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/
Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/
Message on the topic: Zheng He and his 7 journeys
Prepared by a student of the DTT-1 group, Denisenko Anastasia
Zheng He(1371--1435) - Chinese traveler, naval commander and diplomat, who led seven large-scale naval military-trade expeditions sent by the emperors of the Ming dynasty to the countries of Indochina, Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
At birth, the future navigator received the name Ma He. He was born in Hedai Village, Kunyang County. The Ma family came from the so-called sam- immigrants from Central Asia who arrived in China during the Mongol rule and held various positions in the state apparatus of the Yuan Empire. Majority sam, including the ancestors of Zheng He, were Muslims (it is often believed that the surname "Ma" itself is nothing more than the Chinese pronunciation of the name "Muhammad"). traveler chinese expedition military
Not much is known about Ma He's parents. The father of the future navigator was known as Ma Haji (1345-1381 or 1382), in honor of his pilgrimage to Mecca; his wife's surname was Wen. There were six children in the family: four daughters and two sons - the eldest, Ma Wenming, and the youngest, Ma He.
Entering the service of Zhu Di and military career
After the overthrow of the Mongol yoke in central and northern China and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang there (1368), the mountainous province of Yunnan on the southwestern outskirts of China remained under the control of the Mongols for several more years. It is not known whether Ma Haji fought on the side of the Yuan loyalists during the conquest of Yunnan by the Ming troops, but be that as it may, he died during this campaign (1382), and his youngest son Ma He was captured and fell into the service of Zhu Di , the son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who led the Yunnan campaign.
Three years later, in 1385, the boy was castrated, and he became one of the many eunuchs at the court of Zhu Di. The young eunuch got a name Ma Sanbao i.e. Ma "Three Treasures" or "Three Jewels". According to Needham, despite the eunuch's undeniably Muslim origin, this title of his served as a reminder of the "three jewels" of Buddhism (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), whose names are so often repeated by Buddhists.
The first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang planned to transfer the throne to his firstborn son Zhu Biao, but he died during the life of Zhu Yuanzhang. As a result, the first emperor appointed Zhu Biao's son, Zhu Yunwen, as his heir, although his uncle Zhu Di (one of Zhu Yuanzhang's younger sons) certainly considered himself more worthy of the throne. Having ascended the throne in 1398, Zhu Yunwen, who was afraid of the seizure of power by one of his uncles, began to destroy them one by one. Soon a civil war broke out between the young emperor in Nanjing and his Beijing uncle Zhu Di.. Due to the fact that Zhu Yunwen forbade eunuchs to take part in the government of the country, many of them supported Zhu Di during the uprising. As a reward for their service, Zhu Di, for his part, allowed them to participate in solving political issues, and allowed them to rise to the highest levels of political career, which was also very beneficial for Ma Sanbao. The young eunuch distinguished himself both in the defense of Beiping in 1399 and in the capture of Nanjing in 1402, and was one of the commanders tasked with capturing the capital of the empire, Nanjing. Having destroyed the regime of his nephew, Zhu Di ascended the throne on July 17, 1402 under the motto of Yongle's reign.
On the (Chinese) new year of 1404, the new emperor granted Ma He the new surname Zheng as a reward for his faithful service. This served as a reminder of how, in the early days of the uprising, Ma He's horse was killed in the vicinity of Beiping in a place called Zhenglunba.
As for the appearance of the future admiral, he, “becoming an adult, they say, grew to seven chi (almost two meters. - Ed.), And the girth of his belt was equal to five chi (more than 140 centimeters. - Ed.). His cheekbones and forehead were wide, and his nose was small. He had a sparkling eye and a voice as loud as the sound of a great gong.
After Zheng He was awarded the title of "chief eunuch" for all his services to the emperor ( taijiang), which corresponded to the fourth rank of an official, Emperor Zhu Di decided that he was the best fit for the role of admiral of the fleet and appointed the eunuch as the head of all or almost all of the seven voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in 1405-1433, simultaneously raising him status up to the third rank.
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. To bring it into action, a complex system of blocks and levers was used.
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 fleet apparently consisted of about 250 ships, and carried about 27,000 personnel on board, led by 70 imperial eunuchs. The flotilla led by Zheng He visited over 56 countries and major cities in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean basin. Chinese ships reached the coast of Arabia and East Africa.
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 his assistant. The preparations for the expedition, apparently, had already begun earlier, since preparations were completed by the autumn of that year. The flotilla included sixty-two ships, on which there were twenty-seven thousand eight hundred people. 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.
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 Liujiahe, where the flotilla was assembled. Leaving Lujiajiang, the fleet sailed along the coast of China to Taiping Bay in Changle County, Fujian Province. 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 India and Africa, cinnamon from Ceylon, pepper from the Malabar coast, Sunda and Borneo, medicinal plants, ivory from the interior of India and Africa, bundles of cassia, sacks of cardamom, heaps of copra, coir rope, piles 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 the 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 fall 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 friends 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 trees and intended to block the narrow paths and cut off Zheng He's retreat so that separate Chinese detachments 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, Khubilai sent his emissaries to Ceylon in order 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
In mid-December 1412, Zheng He received a new order to bring gifts to the courts of overseas rulers. The main event of this campaign was the capture of a certain leader of the rebels named Sekandar. He had the misfortune to speak out against the king of the state of Semudera in the north of Sumatra, Zain al-Abidin, recognized by the Chinese and connected with them by a treaty of friendship. The arrogant rebel was offended that the emperor's envoy did not bring him gifts, which means that he did not recognize him as a legitimate representative of the nobility, hastily gathered supporters and attacked the admiral's fleet himself. True, he had no more chances of winning than a pirate from Palembang. Soon he, his wives and children were on board the Chinese treasures. Ma Huan reports that the "robber" was publicly executed back in Sumatra, without being honored by the imperial court in Nanjing. But the naval commander brought to the capital from this voyage record number foreign ambassadors from thirty powers. Eighteen of them were taken home by Zheng He during the fifth expedition. All of them carried gracious letters from the emperor, as well as porcelain and silk - embroidered, transparent, dyed, thin and very expensive, so that their sovereigns, presumably, were satisfied. And the admiral himself, this time, set off into uncharted waters, to the shores of Africa.
Fifth expedition
During the next (1417-1419) they visited Lasa (a point near the modern city of Mersa Fatima in the Red Sea) and a number of cities on the Somali coast of Africa - Mogadishu, Brava, Chzhubu and Malindi. The fleet rounded the Horn of Africa and really went to Mogadishu, where the Chinese met with a real miracle: they saw how, for lack of wood, the black people were building stone houses - four or five floors. Rich people engaged in maritime trade, poor people cast nets in the ocean. Small cattle, horses and camels were fed with dried fish. But the main thing is that the travelers brought home a very special “tribute”: leopards, zebras, lions and even a few giraffes. Unfortunately, the African gifts did not satisfy the emperor at all. In fact, goods and offerings from the already familiar Calicut and Sumatra represented a much larger material value than exotic newcomers to the imperial menagerie.
Sixth expedition
During the sixth voyage (1421-1422), Zheng He's fleet again reached the coast of Africa. When, in the spring of 1421, having reinforced the fleet with 41 ships, the admiral again sailed to the Black Continent and returned again without any convincing values, the emperor was completely annoyed. In addition, in the Celestial Empire itself, criticism of his devastating wars intensified during this time. In general, the further campaigns of the great flotilla turned out to be a big question.
Seventh expedition
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). By this time, at the court of the emperor, the group of close associates of Zhu Di, who insisted on reducing the expeditions and returning to the policy of isolationism, was growing stronger. 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. It is especially surprising that no one knows for certain when the famous admiral Zheng He died - either during the seventh voyage, or shortly after the return of the fleet (July 22, 1433). In modern China, it is generally accepted that he, as a real sailor, was buried in the ocean, and the cenotaph, which is shown to tourists in Nanjing, is only a conditional tribute to memory.
Meaning
Zheng He's expeditions contributed to the cultural exchange of African and Asian countries with China and the establishment of trade relations between them. were drawn up detailed descriptions countries and cities visited by Chinese sailors. Their authors were members of Zheng He's expedition - Ma Huan, Fei Xin (en: Fei Xin) and Gong Zheng (en: Gong Zhen). Detailed "Charts of Zheng He's voyages" were also compiled. On the basis of materials and information collected by members of Zheng He's sea expeditions, in Ming China in 1597, Lo Mao-teng wrote the novel Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean. As the Russian sinologist A.V. Velgus pointed out, there is a lot of fantasy in it, however, in some descriptions, the author definitely used data from historical and geographical sources.
heirs
Having been a eunuch since childhood, Zheng He had no children of his own. However, he adopted one of his nephews, Zheng Haozhao, who, unable to inherit his adoptive father's titles, was nevertheless able to retain his property. Therefore, to this day, there are people who consider themselves "descendants of Zheng He."
It is pleasant to note that in 1997 the magazine life in the list of 100 people who have had the greatest impact on history in the last millennium, he placed Zheng He in 14th place.
Hosted on Allbest.ru
...Similar Documents
Biography of Francisco Franco Baamonde. War between Spain and the United States of America (1898). Franco's military career, hostility between the military of the mother country and the "Africanists". Operation value under AluseMase. A successful marriage is a ticket to high society.
term paper, added 08/10/2009
Biography of Christopher Columbus - a Spanish navigator of Italian origin, who in 1492 discovered America for Europeans, thanks to the equipment of expeditions by the Catholic kings. Chronology of travels in 1492-1504. Mass colonization of Hispaniola.
presentation, added 03/15/2015
Biography of Tamerlane (1336-1405) - an outstanding Central Asian statesman, commander and ruler of Maverannahr, analysis of his place in history. general characteristics period of war among the Timurid. Description of the history of the collapse of the Timurid Empire.
term paper, added 12/21/2010
Biography of Issa Pliev - Army General, twice Hero Soviet Union. Difficult childhood, the formation of the character of the future commander, military career. Conducting an operation to defeat the Kwantung Army. post-war service. Awards and titles. The memory of him.
presentation, added 12/05/2011
Basic concepts about travel and geographical discoveries made in Ancient Rome. The main reasons and motivations for travel. Features of travel in ancient Rome. The connection between ancient Roman traditions and how they influenced modern tourism.
term paper, added 06/08/2014
International position Russia and its military potential in the First World War. Long road to glory A.A. Brusilov - biography and glorious military career. The commander's finest hour - the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough in the summer of 1916. Supreme Commander.
abstract, added 01/30/2008
Biography of Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky. early years life, military career, participation in the First World War and civil wars, in the Great Patriotic War. Activities of Malinovsky as Minister of Defense.
presentation, added 01/16/2013
Acquaintance with the personality of Emperor Alexander II, his short biography. Bourgeois reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century, carried out in Russia. Historical meaning the abolition of serfdom, the meaning peasant reform. Zemstvo, judicial and military reforms.
term paper, added 07/13/2012
Biography and military career of Davydov Denis Vasilyevich. Start Patriotic War. Battle of Borodino and its significance for Russia. People's militia and its role. Napoleon's army crossing the Neman. The occupation of Moscow and the retreat of Napoleon's army.
presentation, added 02/09/2012
Personality and diplomatic career of A.M. Gorchakova: biography, political activity. Main merits: The London Convention of 1871, the Berlin Congress of 1878. Evaluation of the foreign policy principles of a diplomat: the views of Russian and foreign scientists.
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 you can 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 China. 09/08/2015.
A descendant of a Persian diplomat, not a Chinese by nationality, a Muslim by religion - he is in childhood was castrated 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, the Indian Ocean, plowed the waters of Asia and Africa, reached the Red Sea and the coast of 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, the 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 the southern province of Yunnan entered Chinese troops, 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 more and more active extension borders of China. 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. The largest 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 in court circles after the death of Zheng He played a 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 the most different 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.
Links
Wikipedia
Around the world
Wikipedia
BaiduBaike
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 (