Zheng He Dbq

Marco Polo was a renowned explorer in the medieval era and he wrote the work in which most of our past understanding of the regions is remembered today. He was born in 1252 in Venice and later deceased in Venice at the age of 70 in 1352. The reason he so is so famous and remembered today is because he reached the farthest on his 24 year journey down the silk road reaching extents of China and Mongolian empire. To begin with Marco Polo was born into a wealthy family who was known for their travels and spread of merchantability already and a young Marco Polo would begin his journey as early as 14-16 Years old. Though his date of birth is unknown and the exact location his family was a big name in the Venice community making it only seem fitting. This paper is going to correlate to the book found in the franciscan library at Saint Bonaventure, “Did Marco Polo Really Go to China” by Dr. Wood; she does a scholarly review questioning whether or not Mr. Polo really carried out the things he said to have done and has he actually visited the regions in which he said he's went too. Before we begin though we cannot fully disprove the veracity of the journey in which Mr. polo took because other explorers have also left out important historical happenings when discovering new regions and cultures. Born in 1254 in Venetian Republic, Marco Polo headed to Asia with his merchant father (weapons trader supposedly as we will later touch on) . He would spend the next 24 years exploring

Accompanied by 27,000 men on 62 large and 255 small ships, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He, led 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, Middle East and east coast of Africa in the span of 28 years during the Ming Dynasty. The scale of Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented in world history. The large treasure ships used during the expeditions were purported to be 440 feet long and 180 feet wide (Dreyer, p. 102). Throughout his travels, Zheng He brought Chinese tea, porcelain and silk products to foreign countries and also brought back exotic goods to the Ming court such as spices, plants and leather. Although his voyages fostered commercial trades and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, the goal of his expeditions stemmed from

The first reason for celebration of Zheng He's voyages is his distance and destination. In 7 voyages he traveled over 105,300 miles. Examples of some places and distance he traveled was

During the 15th and 16th century, exploration became the new norm of society. Each individual country had their own motives, reasons and goals regarding voyages across land and sea. For instance, Christopher Columbus, in the name of Spain, voyaged out to find an alternative route to Asia. The Portuguese, tried to increase their knowledge about trading. Moreover, while some traveled to increase their powers, Zheng He, of China, traveled to discover raw resources and generate more capital into China’s economy. If we compare the maritime policies of the kingdom of Spain and Portugal on the one hand and the Ming Empire on the other the differences in motives clearly outweigh the similarities between these two societies. For example, the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal traveled to spread Christianity, to gain land, to rule over new subjects and to spread their power throughout the different continents, while as the Ming Dynasty was only interested in capital and new/raw resources.

In the early 15th century, an explorer named Zheng He started his first of many voyages to India. He was appointed by Emperor Yongle from the Ming Dynasty. He was castrated and taken away from his family at a young age. As he got older, he gained more power and authority. Zheng He's excellent leading skills lead the exploration of new cultures for China, although they did not voyage the Americas, but had an effect on exploration thereafter.

Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, was born in 1371 in the Yunan Province of southwestern China (background essay). When Zheng He was ten years old, his father was killed right in front of him by the Ming Dynasty’s army (background essay). He was then taken prisoner, castrated, and forced to become part of the eunuchs (background essay). As he grew older, Emperor Yongle began to trust him more and more (background essay). The Emperor trusted him to travel by ship and lead a crew down the coast of China and across the ocean to eventually land in India in 1405 (background essay). This was one of the seven voyages he would take (background essay). When asked if Zheng He’s voyages should be celebrated, three factors must be taken into account: skill, scale and significance. Skill is the measure of one’s ability to do something. Scale is the measure of actions taken to preform something. Significance is the meaning of an event. The voyages of Zheng He should not be celebrated because there was no new land discovered, the cost of the trips were expensive and wasteful, and the reasons for the voyages mainly purposed Zheng He himself and Emperor Yongle.

proven if Marco Polo himself ever traveled as far East as China) to travel freely to the Far

The chart under the map on Document A shows that after every stop, they sailed all the way back to Nanjing, China. According to Document A, the two longest explorations consisted of 19,000 miles roundtrip. I feel that these incredibly long voyages were a waste of time and money; they should have just continued to sail through to the next city. Zheng He sailed to a city, gathered whatever he wanted to, and then sailed back only to pass the city he left. This is incredibly ineffective, and illogical in my opinion because this wasted time and money. Referring back to my thesis, Zheng He was definitely not utilizing the maximum potential of his opportunity.

3) Document 3: The state of Qin's rulers believes in a political philosophy called the Legalism that justifies the strict central control and the use of the people to promote Qin, so they focused on huge construction projects and conquest. The Qin court succeeded in uniting the empire and maintaining control for 15 years. They have standardized the writing system, money, measurements, and built a lot of infrastructures. Their large-scale construction projects helped to flourish later.

Although Zheng He was great, Magellan was a better captain overall. Magellan was a Spanish explorer who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. He set sail on a voyage that was supposed to go around the World, but Magellan was killed before he made it. Although he did not make it around the world, he had the skills to get all the way to the Philippines. Zheng He was a Chinese admiral who led seven voyages. He was also a great captain, but he did not almost make it around the world. Instead, he stayed in the same area and stopped in the same places multiple times.

Qin Shi Huang Di has been making an effort to unite China under his power and legalist ways. The First Emperor should not be supported in his attempts to unite China. Not only is he responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, he also has dangerous legalist ways and spends his time focused on unimportant issues.

Each explorer has contributed to their country advancing the society in multiple ways. Bartholomeu Dias was a Portuguese explorer that set sail in 1487 to sail northeast into the Indian Ocean. He set sail with “two small caravels and a slower supply ship.” As stated in the textbook American Journey. After Dias was overseas for a couple days, there was a huge storm lasting two weeks. Throwing Dias off his original course, the strong winds pushed him southward in sight of land. Dias had realized that he had sailed past the southernmost point of Africa called a Cape. In 1487, Bartholomeu Dias also found a direct water route to India providing the Portuguese with another way of trading food, for different goods. In the Primary Source Packet document 2, it states, “In 1487 Dias sailed to India, finding a direct water route to India forming another trading route for the

Zheng He may have journeyed far, but with little avail compared to competing captains. As the image in The Voyages of Zheng He: 1405-1433 depicts, his ships sailed to only populated areas with very little undiscovered territory (Document A). Unlike other famed explorers, who became popular off of their discovery of new land, Zheng He remained in an area within proximity of China and made no discoveries worth recognizing. In addition, the chart in When China Ruled the Sea shows Zheng He’s mileage compared to Columbus’s (Document B). He traveled nearly two days slower than his fellow explorer, and made far less progress.

During the 15th and 16th century, countries such as Portugal set out to find out more about the world in an era called the “Age of Exploration.” The explorers set out on voyages mainly to find sea trade routes to Asia. Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan were the explorers that made the most important breakthroughs. They used different boats, tools, and maps to help them explore.

Marco Polo’s traveling is part of the reason why he is famous. He is one of the most famous discoverers in history. Marco Polo has traveled to China and most of Asia. He traveled the along the Silk Road for 24 years! He left Venice to do his dream at seventeen years old.