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Voyages of Zheng He (1405 - 1433).
This is a timeline of the Ming dynasty treasure voyages from 1405 to 1433.
Year
Date
Event
1402
17 July
Zhu Di becomes the Yongle Emperor and promotes Ma He to the Grand Director (Taijian ) of the Directorate of Palace Servants
1403
4 September
Orders are issued for the construction of 200 "seagoing transport ships"
1404
11 February
Yongle Emperor confers the surname Zheng on Ma He
1 March
Orders are issued for the construction of 50 "seagoing ships"
1405
11 July
Zheng He and 27,800 men depart from Nanjing on 255 ships, of which 62 are treasure ships, "bearing imperial letters to the countries of the Western Ocean and with gifts to their kings of gold brocade, patterned silks, and colored silk gauze, according to their status." The fleet proceeds to Liujiagang where it is separated into squadrons and the crews pray to Mazu , goddess of sailors.
August
Treasure fleet reaches the mouth of the Min River and assembles at Taiping Anchorage in Changle District
December
Treasure fleet departs for Champa and after 15 days arrives at Qui Nhơn , where "most of the men take up fishing for a livelihood"
1406
Treasure fleet visits Malacca and Java before heading up the Straits of Malacca to Aru, Samudera Pasai Sultanate , and Lambri , where the people are described as "very honest and genuine," and from there 3 days to the Andaman Islands , and then 8 more days to the west coast of Ceylon where the king reacts with hostility. The fleet departs for Calicut , which is described as "the Great country of the Western Ocean"
1407
Treasure fleet makes the return voyage and stops at Malacca to pick up Parameswara and envoys
Treasure fleet defeats Chen Zuyi 's pirate fleet at Palembang and installs Shi Jinqing as "grand chieftain ruling over the native people of that place"
2 October
Treasure fleet arrives at Nanjing
5 October
Wang Hao is ordered to refit 249 "sea transport ships" in "preparation for embassies to the countries of the Western Ocean"
23 October
Yongle Emperor issues orders for the second voyage and to confer formal investiture on the king of Calicut
Yongle Emperor summons Javanese envoys to demand restitution for killing 710 Chinese and settles for 10,000 ounces of gold
29 October
Yongle Emperor bestows merit upon the officers and men of the treasure fleet
30 October
A eunuch Grand Director departs with an imperial letter for the king of Champa
Zheng He departs with a fleet of 249 ships and takes a route similar to the first voyage with the addition of stops at Jiayile , Abobadan , Ganbali , Quilon , and Cochin
1408
14 February
Orders for the construction of 48 treasure ships are issued from the Ministry of Works in Nanjing
1409
January
Orders are issued for the third voyage
15 February
The Galle Trilingual Inscription is produced
Treasure fleet makes the return voyage and stops at the Similan Islands to cut logs for incense
summer
Treasure fleet returns to China
October
Zheng He departs with 27,000 men, taking the usual route
Year
Date
Event
1410
Ming–Kotte War : Treasure fleet lands at Galle in Ceylon and captures King Vijayabahu VI of the Kingdom of Gampola
1411
6 July
Treasure fleet returns to Nanjing
1412
18 December
Yongle Emperor issues orders for the fourth voyage
1413
autumn
Zheng He departs from Nanjing and takes the usual route with the addition of 4 new destinations: the Maldives , Bitra , Chetlat Island , and Hormuz , which is given the following description: "Foreign ships from every place, together with foreign merchants traveling by land, all come to this territory in order to gather together and buy and sell, and therefore the people of this country are all rich"
1415
Treasure fleet captures Sekandar, a rebel against Zain al-'Abidin, king of the Samudera Pasai Sultanate
12 August
Treasure fleet arrives back in Nanjing
13 August
Zheng He 's colleague is sent on a mission bearing gifts to Bengal
1416
19 November
Yongle Emperor bestows gifts upon ambassadors from 18 countries
19 December
Yongle Emperor issues orders for the fifth voyage
1417
autumn
Zheng He departs China taking the previous route to Hormuz , and then Aden , Mogadishu , Barawa , Zhubu, and Malindi
1419
8 August
Treasure fleet returns to China
20 September
Ambassadors present exotic animals to the Ming court including a giraffe imported from Somalia by Bengalis
2 October
Orders are issued for the construction of 41 treasure ships
Year
Date
Event
1421
3 March
Orders are issued for the sixth voyage and envoys from 16 countries including Hormuz are given gifts of paper and coin money, and ceremonial robes and linings
14 May
Yongle Emperor orders the suspension of the treasure voyages
10 November
Orders are issued to Zheng He to provide Hong Bao and envoys from 16 countries passage back to their countries; the treasure fleet takes its usual route to Ceylon where it splits up and heads for the Maldives , Hormuz , and the Arabian states of Djofar, Lasa, and Aden, and the two African states of Mogadishu and Barawa ; Zheng He visits Ganbali
1422
Treasure fleet regroups at Samudera Pasai Sultanate and visit Siam before heading back to China
3 September
Treasure fleet returns to China bringing envoys from Siam , Samudera Pasai Sultanate , and Aden
1424
27 February
Zheng He is sent on a diplomatic mission to Palembang to confer "a gauze cap, a ceremonial robe with floral gold woven into gold patterns in the silk, and a silver seal" on Shi Jinqing 's son Shi Jisun
12 August
Yongle Emperor dies
7 September
Zhu Gaozhi becomes Hongxi Emperor and terminates the treasure voyages
1425
29 May
Hongxi Emperor dies
27 June
Zhu Zhanji becomes Xuande Emperor
1428
25 March
Xuande Emperor orders Zheng He to supervise the reconstruction of the Great Baoen Temple
Year
Date
Event
1430
25 May
Arrangements are made for the provisions of another voyage
29 June
Xuande Emperor issues orders for the seventh voyage
1431
19 January
Treasure fleet departs from Nanjing
23 January
The fleet stops at an island on the Yangtze to hunt animals
3 February
Treasure fleet arrives at Liujiagang
14 March
Liujiagang Inscription is erected
8 April
Treasure fleet arrives at Changle
December
The Changle Inscription is erected and the fleet departs from Changle
16 December
Treasure fleet arrives near Fuzhou
1432
27 January
Treasure fleet arrives at Vijaya
12 February
Treasure fleet departs from Vijaya
7 March
Treasure fleet arrives at Surabaya
13 July
Treasure fleet departs from Surabaya
24 July
Treasure fleet arrives at Palembang
27 July
Treasure fleet departs from Palembang
3 August
Treasure fleet arrives at Malacca
2 September
Treasure fleet departs from Malacca
12 September
Treasure fleet arrives at Samudera Pasai Sultanate and Hong Bao and Ma Huan detach from the fleet to visit Bengal
2 November
Treasure fleet departs from Samudera Pasai Sultanate
14 November
Treasure fleet anchors at Great Nicobar Island for three days; the natives there trade coconuts in log boats
28 November
Treasure fleet arrives at Beruwala
2 December
Treasure fleet departs from Beruwala
10 December
Treasure fleet arrives at Calicut
14 December
Treasure fleet departs from Calicut
1433
Zheng He dies
Hong Bao and Ma Huan arrive in Calicut and send seven men to Mecca while Hong Bao visits Djofar , Lasa, Aden , Mogadishu , and Barawa before heading back to China
17 January
Treasure fleet arrives at Hormuz
9 March
Treasure fleet departs from Hormuz and heads back to China
31 March
Treasure fleet arrives at Calicut
9 April
Treasure fleet departs from Calicut
25 April
Treasure fleet arrives at Samudera Pasai Sultanate
1 May
Treasure fleet departs from Samudera Pasai Sultanate
9 May
Treasure fleet arrives at Malacca
13 June
Treasure fleet arrives at Vijaya
17 June
Treasure fleet departs from Vijaya
7 July
Treasure fleet arrives in China
14 September
Envoys from Samudera Pasai Sultanate , Calicut , Cochin , Ceylon , Djofar , Aden , Coimbatore , Hormuz , Kayal, and Mecca present tribute
Ma Huan publishes his Yingya Shenglan
1434
Gong Zhen publishes his Xiyang Fanguo Zhi
1436
Ming dynasty bans building seagoing ships
Fei Xin publishes his Xingcha Shenglan
Year
Date
Event
1464
Documents of the treasure voyages are removed from the archives of the Ministry of War and destroyed by Liu Daxia on the basis that they were "deceitful exaggerations of bizarre things far removed from the testimony of people's ears and eyes," and that "the expeditions of Sanbao to the Western Ocean wasted tens of myriads of money and grain, and moreover the people who met their deaths [on these expeditions] may be counted in the myriads. Although he returned with wonderful precious things, what benefit was it to the state? This was merely an action of bad government of which ministers should severely disapprove. Even if the old archives were still preserved they should be destroyed in order to suppress [a repetition of these things] at the root."
Church, Sally K. (2005), Zheng He: An Investigation into the Plausibility of 450-ft Treasure Ships , Monumenta Serica Institute
Dreyer, Edward L. (2007), Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 , Pearson Longman
Duyvendak, J.J.L. (1938), "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century", T'oung Pao , 34 (5): 341–413, doi :10.1163/156853238X00171
Levathes, Louise (1996), When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne 1405-1433 , Simon & Schuster
Mills, J.V.G. (1970), Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' [1433] , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Needham, Joseph (1971), Science and Civilization in China Volume 4 Part 3 , Cambridge At The University Press
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