When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433
by Louise Levathes
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One hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began their voyages of discovery, fleets of giant junks commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He and filled with the empire's finest porcelains, lacquerware, and silk ventured to the world's "four corners." Seven epic expeditions brought China's treasure ships across the China Seas and Indian Ocean, from Japan to the spice island of Indonesia and the Malabar Coast of India, on to the rich ports of the Persian Gulf and down the East show more African coast, to China's "El Dorado, " and perhaps even to Australia, three hundred years before Captain Cook's landing. It was a time of exploration and expansion, but it ended in a retrenchment so complete that less than a century later, it was a crime to go to sea in a multimasted ship. In When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes takes a fascinating and unprecedented look at this dynamic period in China's enigmatic history, focusing on the country's rise as a naval power that briefly brought half the world under its nominal authority. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, many translated for the first time, Levathes brings readers inside China's most illustrious scientific and technological era. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great civilization thrived, as well as the perception of China by other contemporary cultures. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming dynasty-the last flowering of Chinese culture before the Manchu invasion. show lessTags
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An in-depth look at how the voyages of the earlier Ming Ruler covered the Indian Ocean and reached the East Coast of Africa. Certainly not so sensationalist as "1421" and the following books on this theme, but factual and informative about a shining moment in exploration, and a warning of how short-term politics can permanently warp a scientific community and the life of a major Civilization.
A very readable history book, focused on the impact of China's imperial fleet in Asia and abroad, but also telling the story of the Emperor's friendship with a Eunuch who had served him from childhood, and went on to be trusted with the treasure fleet, returning to China with tribute and reports of favourable negotiations.
When China Ruled the Seas is an account of a little-known chapter in history, the high era of Chinese sea-going voyages of trade and exploration. Many people are familiar with the drive to reach the ports of the Indies that drove European voyages of exploration in the late 1400s and 1500s. A similar impulse drove Chinese mariners onto the Indian Ocean decades early, leaving us with a fascinating might-have-been scenario: what if China had not left the field to the Europeans?
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/09/when-china-ruled-seas-by-louise.html
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/09/when-china-ruled-seas-by-louise.html
Very interesting book. Seems well documented, but I would like to see a more recent book on the same topic.
This is by far the best book I have read on China's exploration of the Indian Ocean and the great voyages undertaken by Admiral Zheng He.
Free from the library.
Excellent!
Very interesting and easy to read.
Lots of cool information told more like a story than a recitation of facts.
Excellent!
Very interesting and easy to read.
Lots of cool information told more like a story than a recitation of facts.
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Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Zheng He
- Important places
- China
- Important events
- Ming Dynasty (1368 | 1644)
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