On this day in 1405, Admiral Zheng He departed on his first exploratory voyage for the Ming Dynasty. Zheng He is often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history. Born into a Muslim family as Ma He, he later adopted the surname Zheng conferred onto him by the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424).
Zheng was born Ma He to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan. In the autumn of 1382, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He’s father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies in Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Then the general took him prisoner. He was castrated between the ages of 10 and 14, and placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di (who later became the Yongle Emperor), who, as his benefactor, gained the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire’s tributary system.
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He’s first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He’s fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.
Inflation…
Good business names…
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of John Holt, reggae singer and songwriter who first found fame as a member of the Paragons, before establishing himself as a solo artist. Holt penned ‘The Tide Is High’ made famous by Blondie. He died on 20th October 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ak06IseGgg
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