Maritime Asia and Zheng He

This lecture was about the Chinese maritime expeditions of the early 15th century and the projection Chinese power and influence into Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and along the coast of Africa. These expeditions pre-date the trans-Atlantic European voyages by over a century. The chinese built a huge navy to project their power throught the region. Their ships were on a much bigger scale than the European caravels. Lengthways across a chinese treasure ship, 2 "Santa Maria"'s could fit. The expeditions would transport about 28 000 crew, which was on a scale that was not to be seen again until the 20th century. China turns its back on their expeditions before they really come to dominate the rest of the world. There were claims that the chinese came to NZ, even discovered the Americas, Antartica and cirumnavigated the world all before the Europeans, but there is no evidence for this.

Foundation for Maritime exploration:

Maritime silk roads: By about the 3rd century CE regular traffic began to sail the all-sea route from Sri Lanka and the sub-continent to the South China Sea, via the Strait of Malacca, or the Sunda Strait. They no longer had to hug the coast, they could use the monsoon winds to travel further and faster. There were even maritime states that emerged that profited solely from taxing ships as they came through, such as Srivajaya, which was powerful from 7th-11th centuries CE. Yi Jing (635-713) was a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who spent many years in Srivajaya, en route from China to India and wrote extensively about this state. Its capitals were Palembang and Jambi, which projected power throughout the region and were based in ports where the income came from taxing commerce.

Commodities: Silks and Ceramics were traded extensively as well as aromatics like frankincense, myrrh, camphor, patchouli, and sandalwood, as well as spices like pepper, salt, cloves, nutmeg and mace. These mainly travelled west and were in high demand - the aromatics were used in buddhist religious ceremony and spices helped preserve food (particularly meat) and also helped disguise the smell and taste as the food did go off. A group of Islands known as the spice islands (Banda islands and the Molucca islands) were exploited for clove, nutmeg and mace.

1. Technology:
   Stern-post rudder: in China from around the 1st century CE onwards
2. Watertight compartments: a common feature in junks from 1st century CE onwards
3. Multi-decked, multi-masted vessels, which meant faster, more effective travel.
4. Compass: 1) lodestone compass 4th century BCE; 2) needle compass 7th-8th century CE, as well as sophisticated navigational charts made travel more accurate and safe.

Zheng He's voyages:

In the early 15th century (between 1405 and 1431) the Chinese government launched 7 massive maritime expeditions, which they used to project Chinese power and influence into Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and along the coast of Africa.

Zheng He (Cheng Ho: 1371-1433) was chosen deliberately to head the voyages because he was a muslim and therefore would integrate better and understand better the customs of the people they were travelling to visit (they were heading into the islamic world of the middle east and India). Each voyage lasted for about 2-3 years. The aim of the expeditions was to demonstrate the might of the chinese empire and to bring all peoples encountered into a subservient relationship with the chinese court. They had very imperial goals, shown by when they attacked and subdued Sri Lanka to make sure they became a tributory state. They also wanted to control commercial activity, being in the most dynamic economic region in the world, this would have been quite profitable.

Chinese political, commerical and cultural interests extended through the South China Seas and the Indian Ocean Region. And 67 states sent delegations to the chinese court, including the egyptian delegation who sent a giraffe. In Palembang a chinese governer was installed, and in other states, power was removed where necessary to encourage states to be friendly with China.

A full century before Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and became the first European to sail into the Indian Ocean it looked as though it would be the Chinese, not the Europeans, who would dominate oceanic exploration. However, it is the names Magellan and Columbus we associate with maritime endeavour, not Zheng He. Why?

The Chinese court turned away from the ocean and back to the continental focus of the past. The maritime expeditions were hugely expensive. Many in the Chinese bureaucracy suggested that such a cost was unjustified when the threat from the steppe continued. The legacy of the Mongol conquest of China, and the impact it left on Chinese understandings of strategic significance, underlay the decision to abandon state-funded oceanic exploration.