5165–5193 AM · 1405 CE — 1433 CE · world history
Ming China: Zheng He and the Forbidden City
Zheng He's fleet sails the Indian Ocean seven times; the court moves to a new Beijing.
The Ming dynasty, which replaced the Mongols, fits out seven great sea expeditions under Zheng He: dozens of ships, thousands of men, voyages to India, the Persian Gulf and the coasts of East Africa, whence a giraffe is brought home. The fleet sails not to conquer but to display power and gather tribute-gifts from distant rulers. When its patrons die the voyages are stopped, the ships rot idle, and the money goes to the defence of the northern frontier and the rebuilding of the wall. In the same years the court moves to Beijing and raises the Forbidden City—a palace quarter closed to outsiders.
Sources
Documents of the period
- the Chinese dynastic histories — the Ming chronicles and the stelae of Zheng He
Scholarship
- archaeology of China — the seven expeditions and the Forbidden City
Basis: documents and evidence.