Zheng He

Zheng He

Explorer of the Ming Dynasty

Zheng He's Early Life

• Zheng He was born in China in 1371.

• He was a Chinese Muslim from the Hui ethnic group, or group of people with a shared background.

• His original name was Ma Ho, the Chinese version of Mohammed.

Multiple Choice

What was Zheng He's original name

• Ma Ho

• Ma Ma

• Zheng Ma

• Ta He

Multiple Choice

Zheng He was from

• Korea

• China

• Japan

• India

Multiple Choice

Zheng He followed what religion?

• Confucianism

• Buddhism

• Islam

• Hinduism

Ming Dynasty Fleet

• China was ruled by the Yongle Emperor, who was part of the Ming Dynasty, a series of rulers who all come from the same family.

• The Emperor assembled a fleet to explore the Indian Ocean and appointed Zheng He as admiral.

• This fleet included 317 ships, 62 of which were “treasure ships”.

Multiple Choice

How many treasure ships went with Zheng He on his first voyage.

• 75

• 89

• 62

• 102

Trading Exotic Goods

• Treasure ships carried precious items like silk and porcelain to trade with the locals.

• The Chinese considered goods from foreign countries to be exotic, or unusual and hard to obtain.

• Even pepper was considered exotic to people in China back then.

Multiple Choice

Pepper is considered a type of...

• spice

• fruit

• silk

• animal

Multiple Choice

The treasure ships carried

• horses and wheat

• slaves

• soldiers and prisoners

• silk, porcelain and spices

Zheng's Treasure Ships

• Some of Zheng He’s treasure ships were said to be as big as 450 feet long and 185 feet wide.

• His navigators used magnetic compasses like the Arabs and Europeans did.

• They also figured out their latitude, or how far north or south they were, by looking at where the stars were in the sky.

Multiple Choice

What navigational tool did the voyagers borrow from the Arabs and the Europeans?

• a clock

• a compass

• porcelain

• paper

Innovation on the High Seas

• They found how fast their ships were going by dropping a floating object overboard and timing how fast it moved along the length of the ship.

• To measure time, they would watch a stick of incense burn, a method similar to watching sand pour through an hourglass.

Multiple Choice

Why would Zheng He's navigators burn incense?

• To measure distance

• To measure latitude and longitude

• To measure time

The 7 Voyages of Zheng He

• Zheng He conducted seven voyages, and landed in places like India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mogadishu in Africa, and Yemen in the Middle East.

• The ruler of Yemen, al-Malik al-Zahir, gave Zheng gifts for the emperor, including African animals that people in China had never seen before.

• These were a big hit in the emperor’s court, and the paintings that court artists made of zebras and giraffes are still around today.

Multiple Choice

How many voyages did Zheng He take part in?

• 1

• 2

• 7

• 6

Multiple Choice

What did Zheng He bring back to China?

• rats and insects

• bananas

• Giraffes, and other animals

• silk, tea, and spices

The end of an era

• When a new emperor came to the throne in 1433, he put an end to Zheng He’s voyages because he no longer wanted to pay for them.

• People in the government said that China wasn’t making very much money from the trading,

• They should instead spend money patrolling eastern coastal waters to defend against Japanese pirates.

Multiple Select

Why did the new emperor want to end the voyages after Zheng He's death? (Choose all options that apply)

• He no longer wanted to pay for the voyages

• The voyages were not making any money

• The country needed to defend themselves from Japanese invaders

• Christopher Columbus wanted to visit China