In 1433, the Chinese purposely and unexpectedly ended their maritime expeditions that had put them in the spotlight for the past few years. Before the expeditions were stopped, they were taking place on the Indian Ocean where Zheng He, the captain, had established their territory. During this same time Europe was trying to build and empire through their voyages, however their ships were small and much less forceful. The Chinese ending their expeditions worked out well for Europe because the Indian Ocean was clear and their Portuguese ships could finally make it onto the Pacific. One can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if the Chinese didn’t leave the seas. At some point the Portuguese would have bumped into China’s massive fleets on the Indian Ocean,but what might have happened? …show more content…
Knowing this, if Zheng He and Vasco de Gama had crossed paths on the Indian Ocean, China’s ships would have most likely attacked and demolished the Europeans ships because they were on what they recognized as their territory. Zheng He’s ships could’ve easily exterminated the four European ships due to their size and bulk. If this had happened Europe likely would have abandoned their voyage and over time would’ve stopped financing trips similar to de Gama’s. This would have then forced them to expand their empire somewhere else, or not at all. This may have greatly weakened or interrupted Western European dominance for another several hundred
He and his crews of thousands sailed from Africa, the Middle East, and India, to get the west impressed with China and for people to discern them as the leading manufacturer in the world. Once Zheng He died, the voyages stopped because more important issues had started to populate in the country, such as nomadic invasions. Because the excursions were
In document 4 Ralph Fitch, a British merchant, is trying to join in on the trade and for the British government to join to be able to obtain more money. They see how the Portuguese is making money and the trade and profits being made between them and China and believe they should join the trade to earn some of the profit. A similar situation goes on in document 7 He Qiaoyuan, a Ming dynasty court official, he try's to convince the emperor to repeal the on foreign trade. He tells the emperor how Chinese merchants are trading there goods for profit and that they could be the ones making the profit instead of others. But in document 8 there was a conflict going, Charles D' Avenant, an English scholar, tells about the restricting Indian textiles.
For a brief time in world history, China dominated maritime exploration. Even though quite unintentionally, a previous century’s invention of the magnetic compass played a pivotal and facilitating role and provided Chinese sailors a two-hundred-year head start over their European counterparts. However, it was not until blending those navigational advancements of the day, together with nautical technologies of shipbuilding architecture and propulsion found China readily thrust to the forefront. Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty desired to leverage those technologies to construct an immense armada attesting to the court’s military prowess. Supported by a backdrop of politically favorable winds and a generous endowment, the Emperor commissioned the undertaking of explorations to an experienced Admiral named Zheng He.
When looking back on the changes and continuities of commerce throughout the Indian Ocean regions from 650 AD to 1750 AD, many noteworthy aspects can be seen. One such continuity was repeated usage of trade routes by different merchants and economic groups to import and export goods. Another significant change was the increase of involvement by European traders. Overtime they began to involve themselves more and more in the Indian Ocean trade networks and even began to colonize land.
From 1500- circa 1600 the Indian Ocean was a flourishing trade center that had various central locations run by some of the most powerful countries at the time. This led to a bulk of issues and a number of benefits. The Portuguese were a very powerful leader of the region and were known for their harsh culture and, almost pirate like in some ways of their customs. Their power and influence made a considerable difference in the culture and regional power throughout trade in the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese transformed maritime trade in the Indian Ocean to a large extent because of the threatening power changes, corrupt trading, and the way the trade goods’ quality transformed over time.
This happened because they saw the value of Indian Ocean trade and began to colonize for economic purposes. Because of the dark ages, it took a while for the Europeans to discover the Indian Ocean trading. Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the Indian Ocean trade network resulted in Portuguese invasion attempts to capture the port cities, which harmed the once economically prosperous Swahili city states, as well as the commerce of the Indian Ocean itself. However, the attempts to control the commerce of the Indian Ocean by the Portuguese ultimately failed. Globally, just as European involvement increased in the commerce of the Indian Ocean region, Europeans began trading with the Americas during the Columbian Exchange.
As a result, the Portuguese was able to took control of the trades and because of their reputation of force, everyone is afraid to fight back and the Indian Ocean trade continue its
He was tossed overboard for fear of spread of disease but his empty tomb is outside of Nanjing. After his death, China turned towards isolation, they banned overseas travel and burned all the ships and records of Zheng He. After Zheng He 's death during, the whole treasure fleet was
Zheng He commanded a fleet of 300 ships with 20,000 men; these large numbers needed Zheng He to be very decisive and determined. “ Zheng and his men beat their way down through all of South-East Asia, to both coasts of India and finally to Africa's eastern coast, at least as far as
Before the Portuguese got into the Indian ocean to begin maritime trade there was mainly land-based trading going on with the nations/countries around them and some maritime trade. As the countries began to trade more and more they all soon had the products that each country around them had to offer. That’s when the Portuguese decided to try and transform maritime trade. The Portuguese wanted the three g’s every country dreams of: God, Glory, and Gold. Although many Scholars would argue that the Portuguese transformed maritime trade, they did not due to how power hungry they got and waging war with the nations and the effects left on the countries.
Unfortunately, this thinking prevented the Chinese from learning from western technology and science. As a result the West was able to easily defeat the Qing in key battles such as the Opium War in 1839 to 1841. In contrast to the Ottomans, the Qing was unable to compromise with the West and Europe forced its way into China. However, both societies were influenced by Western methods, despite attempts to restore traditional ideology and campaigns by both Chinese
For the Americans, imperializing China was a way to keep European countries from colonizing it and gaining too much power. For the Europeans, it was a great economic investment. But from the Chinese point of view, the foreigners were evil and out to destroy their ancient culture. European imperialism has had a long standing impact on Chinese society today, being both good and bad. Before imperialism, life in China was simple and self-sufficient.
Zheng He's voyages took place in the Indian Ocean and Christopher Columbus's took place in the Atlantic Ocean. Though their voyages were different they both made a huge impact on the politics, economics and human civilization. The size of fleets, ships and
Zheng He’s voyages have been a constant source of controversy in the historical world because of the differing opinions on whether they should be celebrated or not. In July of 1405, Zheng He was given a task to lead a fleet of ships for exploration. This task was assigned to him by Emperor Yongle of China’s Ming Dynasty. Zheng He went on seven separate voyages over the next twenty eight years through the Indian and Pacific Oceans with the largest fleet of wooden ships in history. He navigated his massive fleet from Nanjing along the Chinese coast and through these oceans to explore new lands and bring prosperity to China.
In the year 1519, Spain set sail to be the first ones to circumnavigate the globe. Under the leadership of Ferdinand de Magellan, they were able to accomplish this monumental task by the year 1522, even though Magellan died before they journey was complete. In the article titled “Ferdinand Magellan 's Voyage Round the World, 1519-1522”, we are able to recall the accounts transcribed from the paper-book of a Genoese pilot who wrote detailed accounts about the events that transpired throughout the journey. Around 55 years after Spain’s voyage, the English set out to circumnavigate the globe under the leadership of Sir Francis Drake in the year of 1577. An article titled “Sir Francis Drake 's Famous Voyage Round The World, 1580” was written by Francis Pretty, who was one of Drake 's Gentlemen at arms.