In the early fifteenth century, Admiral Zheng He commanded
the greatest expeditionary fleets the world had ever known. The Ming Dynasty
invested heavily in expanding Chinese influence, especially its third emperor,
Yongle, who outfitted a fleet to be commanded by his longtime supporter, Zhenge
He. Born Ma Ho during the turbulent western wars between the Mongols and the
Mings, he had been captured at ten and forced into the Ming army commanded by
young Yongle. Ma Ho proved successful at all he did, and he was selected to
become head eunuch with a new name, Zheng He.
In 1404, Zheng He was placed in command of the fleet
dispatched to bring in the nations to the south as tributaries under the
emperor’s influence. Among the 317 ships in the fleet were 62 “treasure ships,”
said to be over 180 feet long and loaded with gifts of tea, silk, porcelain,
and manufactured goods. In addition to the thousands of sailors, crews also
included scholars and cutting-edge technology such as gunpowder rockets and cannons
as well as magnetically-driven compasses for navigation. For the next 30 years,
Zheng He would command seven expeditions through Indonesia, India, Arabia, and
the east coast of Africa.
While pushing southward on the African coast past Mogadishu
to Malindi and Zanzibar, Zheng He heard the traders’ discussion of an inland
empire so rich with gold that it rivaled the legendary wealth of Mali. Messengers
back to China had brought further news of the Xuande emperor’s disinclination
toward these expeditions, and Zheng He feared this might be his last. Deciding
to go for broke, Zheng He led an excursion inland to contact this empire while
the main fleet explored the coast, mapping much of Madagascar. It was very
different to take up an expedition on land, but Zheng He had already defeated
the Kingdom of Kotte inland on Sri Lanka.
Zheng He and his smaller boats followed rivers to the Kingdom
of Zimbabwe, a term referring to the stone fortresses built at defensive
positions throughout the plateau. Zheng He trekked to its greatest city with
towering stone walls over 30 feet tall. Though impressive even by the standards
of China, the kingdom in the south was clearly in a state of decline. The land
was turning arid, and much of the gold in the rivers had given out, prompting
one prince, Nyatsimba Mutota, to move northward in conquest for new resources,
especially valuable salt.
The kingdom struck Zheng He as an enormous new partner with
its control of the gold and ivory of the entire region. He won favor with
Mutota with gifts and dispatched scholars and craftsmen to show irrigation
techniques for improved crop yields as well as methods for upgrading mines. Mutota
was so impressed that he began collecting engineers, bringing them from China,
Arabia, and later Europe. The most important exchange was with China for
gunpowder and cannons, which furthered the Mutapa people’s position as the military
superpower of the region.
Through the years, invention solved problems as they arose.
As the miners needed to dig deeper into the earth for gold, iron, and copper,
engineers developed pumps to use suction to clear the shafts of water. With the
struggle for food for a large population, labor-saving devices were of the
utmost importance, pushing the development of engines. Factories sprang up
around the rivers driven by waterwheels. Threats of deforestation were overcome
by the discovery of massive coal reserves to the west; coal in turn proved to
burn more efficiently than wood and allow for leaps forward with metallurgy.
By 1700, the Zambezi River was the industrial center of the
world. Steam-driven ships brought in textiles and other raw materials, then
exported manufactured goods back to ports as far away as China and the
Americas. The expansive Mutapa Empire dominated Africa south of the equator,
serving as a balance between European influence in the northwest and Muslim
influence in the northeast. Mutapan trade colonies would become thriving
cosmopolitan centers for centuries to come all along the southern Atlantic and
Indian Oceans.
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In reality, Zheng He died in 1433 in Calicut, India. By
then, expeditions had started to go out of fashion with the emperor as policies
turned back toward isolationist Confucian ideals. Soon the size of ships was
legally restricted to prevent reckless gambling on oversea ventures.
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