Late Middle Ages · East Asia · Exploration
1405
Zheng He's First Treasure Voyage Departs
July 11, 1405
Sixty-three nine-masted junks, some four hundred feet long, sailed from Suzhou carrying twenty-seven thousand men, giraffes-to-be, and enough silk to dress a continent. The Muslim eunuch admiral bore the Yongle Emperor's summons to every port of the Indian Ocean. China's navy was, briefly, the largest ever built. The fleet visited Champa, Java, Sumatra, and Sri Lanka, establishing the tributary diplomacy that defined all seven voyages.
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Also in 1405 (3 other events on record)
- Timur Dies at Otrar · Central Asia · Politics
- Shah Rukh Inherits the Timurid Throne · Central Asia · Politics
- Ma Huan Joins Zheng He's Fleet · East Asia · Culture
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Exploration
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.