Zheng He | Biography, Facts, & Significance - Encyclopedia Britannica

Naval expeditions

Ma He quickly became a eunuch of great influence in the Yongle court. Soon after he ascended the throne, the emperor conferred on Ma the surname Zheng, and he was henceforth known as Zheng He. Zheng was then selected by the emperor to be commander in chief of what became a series of missions to the “Western Oceans.” He first set sail in 1405, commanding 62 ships and 27,800 men. The fleet visited Champa (now in southern Vietnam), Siam (Thailand), Malacca (Melaka), and the island of Java and then through the Indian Ocean to Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast of India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Zheng He returned to China in 1407.

On his second voyage, in 1408–09, Zheng He again visited Calicut—stopping as well in Chochin (Kochi) along the coast to the south—but encountered treachery from King Alagonakkara of Ceylon. Zheng defeated Alagonakkara’s forces and took the king back to Nanjing as a captive. In October 1409 Zheng He set out on his third voyage. This time, going beyond the seaports of India, he sailed to Hormuz on the Persian Gulf. On his return in 1411 he touched at Samudra, on the northern tip of Sumatra.

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On his fourth voyage Zheng He left China in 1413. After stopping at the principal ports of Asia, he proceeded westward from India to Hormuz. A detachment of the fleet cruised southward down the coast of Arabia, visiting Dhofar (Oman) and Aden (Yemen). A Chinese mission visited Mecca and continued to Egypt. The fleet visited towns along the east coast of Africa of what are now Somalia and Kenya and almost reached the Mozambique Channel. On his return to China in 1415, Zheng He brought the envoys of more than 30 states of South and Southeast Asia to pay homage to the Chinese emperor.

During Zheng He’s fifth voyage (1417–19), the Ming fleet revisited the Persian Gulf and the east coast of Africa. A sixth voyage was launched in 1421 to take home the foreign emissaries from China. Again he visited Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and Africa. In 1424 the Yongle emperor died. In the shift of policy his successor, the Hongxi emperor, suspended naval expeditions abroad. Zheng He was appointed garrison commander in Nanjing, with the task of disbanding his troops.

Zheng He’s seventh and final voyage left China in the winter of 1431. He visited the states of Southeast Asia, the coast of India, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the east coast of Africa. Zheng died in Calicut in the spring of 1433, and the fleet returned to China that summer.

Quick Facts Wade-Giles romanization: Cheng Ho (Show more) Original name: Ma Sanbao (Show more) Later: Ma He (Show more) Born: c. 1371, Kunyang, near Kunming, Yunnan province, China (Show more) Died: 1433, Calicut [now Kozhikode], India (Show more) See all related content

Zheng He was the best known of the Yongle emperor’s diplomatic agents. Although some historians see no achievement in the naval expeditions other than flattering the emperor’s vanity, those missions did have the effect of extending China’s political sway over maritime Asia for half a century. Admittedly, they did not, like similar voyages of European merchant-adventurers, lead to the establishment of trading empires. Yet, in their wake, Chinese emigration increased, resulting in Chinese colonization in Southeast Asia and the accompanying tributary trade, which lasted until the 19th century.

Jung-pang Lo