Volume 2, Issue 3
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Volume 2, Issue 3 |
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Archives Published: 03/15/2004 There is a tomb on Bulls Head Hill in In "We have traversed more than one hundred thousand
li of immense waterspaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves
rising sky high and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden
in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled
like clouds day and night, continued their course (as rapidly as) a star,
traversing these savage waves as if we were treading a public
thoroughfare." Zheng He, 1432 Who was Zheng He? He was the second son of a Muslim immigrant
who had served the Mongols during their regime. As a young boy he was
captured during the confusion involved in the overthrow of the Mongols and
was raised as a eunuch at the household of the Prince of Yan. However, he was not the stereotypical eunuch and
grew to be a large tall man, well read and
knowledgeable. Zheng He was
also an able soldier and showed his ability while serving the young prince
of Yan, Zhu Di. When
Zhu Di overthrew his nephew and became the third
Ming Emperor in 1403, it was Zheng He who was
appointed Admiral of the Dragon Throne of China. The Middle
Kingdom was well aware of the outside world after the Mongol conquest. The
new emperor having cast a cold glance at the threat of Tamerlaine rising in the Muslim world, appeared to have decided that sea power would
become one of the pillars of Chinese strength. And Zhu Di did nothing on a small scale. The ocean going
armada that was built at numerous shipyards throughout the From 1405 to 1433, the Chinese set forth on maritime ventures that were far beyond the abilities of the Europeans who would follow them in a few scant decades. There were seven primary expeditions led by Zheng He himself, with hundreds of ships - as many as 27,000 men taking part in a single expedition. Nothing like it had ever been seen on the oceans of the earth. As a Chinese historian stated, "the ships that sail the Southern Sea are like houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky." (Recently Rex Warner, a professional adventurer and explorer of the same cut as Thor Heyerdahl and Tim Severin has refurbished a traditional ocean going junk in honor of Zhu Di and his eunuch admiral Zheng He. That story is described here: http//www.dragonvoyage.com ) Western
historians have long assumed that the purpose of these voyages was solely
to impress the barbarians and to voluntarily bring them into a tributary
system under the Dragon Throne. Mounting evidence shows that the Chinese
effort was far more aggressive and purposeful than
imagined. Gavin Menzies has spent a lifetime unearthing the evidence.
While studying an early map by the cartographer Pizzigano, he realized that he was looking at the
islands of Puerto Rico and That there exist
ancient maps that do not fit in with our Western conventions has long been
known. Several, such as the Piri Reis map have
caused reams of hysterical nonsense to be written about the "ancient maps
of the sea-kings of Atlantis!" I'm not sure if the impulse behind such
beliefs is racist condescension, but the judicious use of common sense
points to the Chinese as being the source of these
maps. Voyagers from the
Stone Age on have plied the oceans of the earth, and left evidence enough
of their adventures. But as Daniel Boorstin
points out in The Discoverers, "getting there was not
enough:" "The ability to come home again was essential if a
people were to enrich, embellish, and enlighten themselves... in a later
age this would be called feedback. "The internourishment of
the peoples of the earth required the ability to get back, to return to
the voyaging source and transform the stay-at-homes by the commodities and
the knowledge that the voyagers had found there. Fourth- century coins
made in The Chinese
explorers were intent on feedback. These were not only voyages to
overwhelm the nations of the earth with an impressive display, they were voyages of discovery - and voyages
for the purpose of colonization and conquest. When Javanese
pirates foolishly tried to waylay one of the fleets, Zheng He established at naval base at Malacca and
destroyed the pirate fleets. When the King of Sri Lanka was insufficiently
impressed, he was "encouraged" to return with Zheng He to the If that last fact
didn't catch your attention, it should have. I would strongly recomend Gavin Menzies
1421: The Year A Chinese colony
in Now comes nemesis, swift of foot, with deadly
gaze. Next:
...and the Fire from Heaven Last revised: November 22, 2004 |
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