Voyages Across the Seas

IN SEARCH OF NEW LAND AND OPPORTUNITIES

we speak of world explorers, icons like Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan come easily to mind, leaving Zheng He a mere afterthought. Despite that, the voyages of this Chinese admiral are no less remarkable than his western counterparts’.

Born Ma He in Yunnan, China, he was captured by a Ming Dynasty army in 1381 and brought to serve the Yongle Emperor. With talent and intelligence, Ma He quickly grew to become the emperor’s favourite. He was bestowed the surname “Zheng” and eventually chosen to lead seven treasure voyages across the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and beyond.

The aim of these journeys was to establish a stronger Chinese presence in the region and while his sailing routes traced medieval travels of the Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta, the size of his fleets were unprecedented. A typical voyage consisted of 60 treasure ships flanked by 190 smaller ships, carrying almost 30,000 men. If Chinese records hold true, the biggest treasure ships were nine-masted, 126 metres long and 52 metres wide – at least twice the size of European ships in that era.

In total, Zheng He travelled almost 300,000 kilometres, visiting ports of Qui Nhon ( Vietnam), Palembang (Indonesia), Malacca (Malaysia), Galle (Sri Lanka), Kozhikode (India), Aden ( Yemen) and Mecca (Saudi Arabia) among others. Zheng He presented gifts like porcelain, silk and gold, and in return received curious artefacts like giraffes which he brought back to China.

As a devout Muslim, Zheng He used his travels as an opportunity to spread religion as well, and actively supported the growth of Islam in Java, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. His endeavours have been deemed to be crucial in developing Islam within Southeast Asia.

Zheng He died in 1433 in Kozhikode, India, on his way back to China during his seventh voyage. As China’s greatest admiral, Zheng He continues to live on through numerous mosques and temples dedicated to his name throughout Southeast Asia, and also as the fictional sailor Sinbad.

ITA

in the Italian port city of Genoa, Christopher Columbus always had a close affinity with seafaring – as a teenager, he participated in trading voyages over the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Further journeys to Africa between 1482 and 1485 gave him greater insight to oceanic currents and trade routes, and it was in the midst of this that Columbus proposed sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Asia – an ambition that set in motion European colonisation of the Americas.

With an understanding that the Earth is spherical and the widely-held assumption that no lands lay between Europe and Asia, Columbus believed that sailing westwards would be a more efficient method to reach China and the East Indies.

His four voyages were made possible with a sponsorship from the Crown of Castile and his fleets of a fairly modest size; the Santa Maria was over twice the size of a Titanic lifeboat. An in-depth understanding of trade winds contributed towards much of Columbus’ success, allowing him to explore the Caribbean Islands and Central American coast.

But despite repeated travels to the region, Columbus did not acknowledge that he had not found Asia, but instead stumbled upon a previously littleknown-about continent. He believed that Cuba was Japan, and called the native people of the Antilles in the Caribbean Sea “Indians”. In the latter case, the name stuck on for centuries and remains in reference even today.

Like Zheng He, Columbus also saw his travels as a chance to spread religion – which in this case was Catholicism. However, his efforts were marred by violence and enslavement. Eventually, after a final voyage, Columbus died in 1506 in Valladolid, Spain.

The legacy that Columbus left is a mixed bag; while remembered for his ground-breaking travels that began centuries of European exploration of the Americas, he is also much critiqued for his governance of the West Indies. ag

Christoph er Columbus