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Zheng He's voyages to Hormuz: the archaeological evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2015

Lin Meicun  and
Ran Zhang
Lin Meicun
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China
Ran Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

The imperially sponsored maritime expeditions led by Zheng He in the early fifteenth century AD projected Ming Chinese power as far as Java, Sri Lanka and the East African coast. The Indian Ocean voyages are well documented in Chinese and Islamic historical accounts and by the nautical charts of Zheng He's journeys. Less clear has been the exact location of ancient Hormuz, the destination of Zheng He's voyages in the Persian Gulf. Recent re-analysis of ceramics from coastal southern Iran provides a solution. Archaeological evidence for Ming ceramics on present-day Hormuz Island and jewellery and gemstones of Iranian origin in southern China suggest that ancient Hormuz and Hormuz Island are one and the same.

Keywords

Persian GulfIranHormuzMing ChinaZheng HeIndian Ocean tradeceramics
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 89 , Issue 344 , April 2015 , pp. 417 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd., 2015 

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