Zheng He Research Paper
1) Who was Zheng He, and where did he travel?
Zheng He was a Chinese Muslim. When he was young he was castrated in order to serve a prince, following the customs at the time. He later conspired with that prince, Zhu Di to overthrow the then current emperor. Zhu Di became emperor and rewarded Zheng He with a massive armada of ships. He sailed for years, furthering China’s reach and trading everywhere he went. He traveled 2000 miles into the Atlantic. From China to East Africa, India, Southeast Asia.
2) Describe the ships in Zheng He’s fleet.
Had the biggest maritime fleet in history. His largest ship was 400 feet long. It could hold 15,000 tons and 500 men. It had four masts and water tight bulkheads under the ship. The ship held fish tanks,
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These anchors Menzies claimed proved Zheng He went to America, could have been brought at any time in the past few hundred years, it is impossible to tell when they got there. All of the DNA evidence of Native Americans points to being Asian, which supports the Bering Strait theory and doesn’t have much to say about Menzies’ Theory. The map Menzies claims proves further that Zheng He reached America. The map has come under scrutiny by plenty of historians calling it fake, while others doubt that it is truly a copy of a 15th century map.
6) Based on your research, do you believe that Zheng He reached the Americas? Make sure to explain your answer fully.
No. I think Menzies’ evidence is shaky at best. He takes anecdotes and the what-ifs of history and turns them into theories. He has no qualifications and he cannot even speak Mandarin. It is also important to note that Zheng He was tasked with trading among routes explicitly known to Chinese sailors at that time. The Chinese would have no reason to sail thousands of miles to see if they could find anything. Many Historians do not doubt that Zheng He “could’ve” discovered America first. Even if the Zheng He did discover America first, it wouldn’t matter because it didn’t change anything. We say Columbus discovered the New World because his discovery actually changed things. The only caveat to my statement is Menzies claim that Columbus had a map, which to me does not make much sense seeing as if he did have a map, he would not have gotten rejected so many times while trying to pitch his idea of sailing across the
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