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Zheng He's Expeditions to the Western Ocean and His Navigation Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

Sun Guangqi
Sun Guangqi
Affiliation:
(Dalian Maritime University, China)
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Abstract

Zheng He was the greatest navigator in China's history and he conducted major oceanic voyages, before the western ‘Age of Discovery’, at a time when the Portuguese under Prince Henry were just beginning to feel their way down the coast of Africa. Under the orders of Emperor Yongle and then Emperor Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He led a fleet which was the greatest in the world in the fifteenth century and made, in all, seven expeditions to the Western Ocean from 1405 to 1433. His fleet sailed across most of the sea areas of the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and visited more than thirty Asian and African countries and regions. This paper will mainly discuss the extraordinary achievements of Zheng He's expeditions and their navigational technology, and will also briefly evaluate their role in navigational history.

Keywords

1. History.
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 329 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1992

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