Yongle Sends Zheng He's Sixth Voyage

1423

The treasure fleet sailed again, carrying envoys from sixteen states home to their courts. This voyage reached Aden and the Swahili coast, trading porcelain for ambergris and rhinoceros horn. Chinese ships had now been seen on African beaches, and African ambassadors had walked the Forbidden City's marble corridors. The fleet also visited Calicut, Hormuz, and the Maldives, consolidating the network that made China the Indian Ocean's diplomatic center.