The Ancient World - China

By the first century A.D., the Chinese had some knowledge of the winds and currents of the Pacific. When weather prevented the Chinese from navigating by the sky the mariners used magnetized needles to guide them. Because the sailors had no level surface on their rocking ship, they floated the needle in a shallow bowl of water, and the compass that guides explorers to this day was born.

Between 1405 and 1433, Emperor Zhu Di's Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne ruled the entire South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, collecting gifts and tributes for the Emperor throughout a territory that ranges from Korea and Japan to the Eastern coast of Africa. The Admiral Zheng He (sometimes seen as "Cheng Ho") began the first of seven voyages in 1405. The purpose of the first voyage was to hunt the former emperor who had been dethroned and had escaped. The admiral's fleet, which was made up of 62 large junks and 255 smaller ships, recaptured the deposed emperor and also defeated a large pirate fleet that had been terrorizing the islands near Sumatra.

Over the next 28 years, Admiral Zheng He increased China's trading territory to include 37 countries from the Vietnam coast to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and eastern Africa. Zheng He's death around 1435 signaled the end of the Treasure Fleet and the demise of China's economic domination of the South Pacific.

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