Zheng He's adventures by Miguel Cabellos

Western China in 1409

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-15 13:58:57 UTC

Western China in 1409 was part of the Ming dynasty, a quite stable and peaceful time for the Chinese, despite small conflicts with Mongols who were stuck in civil war, the lands were at peace.

Before this the lands were ruled by Yuan dynasty who were Mongols, and before that was the Song dynasty, that was strongly Confucius which meant that they were very closed off towards other countries and cultures.

The following Ming dynasty did not have a specific religion but instead was much more open towards trade and other cultures.

The Birthplace of Zheng He

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-21 09:49:41 UTC

Zheng He was born in far Western China to a muslim family, before being taken to the Chinese capital and turned into a court eunuch to work in the imperial court of Ming china. Eunuchs were slaves who had been castrated. They did this because they believed that a man without reproductive organs would have no lust and therefore be a great adviser to a emperor.

Later on he was given command of a few exploration ships and led them throughout the Indian ocean buying and selling foreign goods.

Calicut

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-21 10:08:46 UTC

This was Zheng he’s First expedition appointed by Zhu Di, his mission was to go to calicut a powerful city-state in Kerala on the west coast of India and establish China's trade and also show their power to the world which was a main objective that Zheng He aimed to do. They also wanted to strengthen diplomatic relationships and to stabilize disrupted trade routes. So what Zhu Di did was he sent a lot of warships to show and establish power in Calicut by forcing them to trade with them which made China kind of have control over them.

The Indian Ocean Trade

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-21 10:14:18 UTC

The Indian Ocean Trade facilitated the transport of technology like the astrolabe and lateen sail and also enabled the transport of ideas and religions like islam and christianity throughout the globe. Furthermore this trade route created diasporas across the routes in important cities and created great wealth for the city of Malacca and many other nations involved.

Furthermore this spreading of culture changed and warped the cultures of other countries and slowly created a more and more unified trade culture.

A big downside though was the spread of disease as the route performed a major role in the spread of the bubonic plague which ended up killing millions of people.

The Bubonic Plague

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-21 10:52:52 UTC

The Bubonic Plague otherwise known as the Black Plague started in China and often is attributed to rodents for doing most of its spreading but it was spread along trade routes like the silk road, and the Indian Ocean Trade Route.

When the Plague reached Europe the plague ended up killing over one third of the population.

Malacca

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-21 11:01:12 UTC

Malacca, a trading city located just south of China was Zheng He’s next project. He wanted to establish power and control over Malacca because of where it was positioned so he could have more control in the Indian ocean. So what Zheng He did was he made Malacca a vassal state meaning it was under his rule which benefited both sides because now he could control a country which was great for trade in the Indian ocean and Malacca also gained lots of money and fame which let them trade way better.

The Maldives

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-22 13:51:09 UTC

played a key role in Afro-Eurasian trade networks due to its location, since it was just south of China Chinese travelers could sail from China to the Maldives and from the Maldives to Africa. This affected the Chinese In a way where they could stop and trade exotic materials like ambergris.

Hormuz Island, Iran

ksorensen29 — 2025-10-22 13:53:45 UTC

Just south of modern day Iran is Hormuz a mini island great for controlling the Persian sea which the Chinese and Zheng He’s men took over. Not only did this island give them great control over the waters, they also had sapphires, rubies, oriental topaz, pearls, coral beads, amber, woolens and carpets which were great for trading and gave the Ming China dynasty great wealth.