Zheng He Dbq Analysis

One cannot celebrate a man who left so little impact on the world. Have you ever heard the name Zheng He? Likely not, and with good reason. Zheng He was born Ma He, in a muslim village in southwestern China. Ma was captured during a northern chinese raid, and was forced to watch his father’s execution. He was taken shortly after, and was forced to become a eunuch under the new name Zheng He and serve the staff of the royal family. Zheng He quickly gained the trust of the emperor at the time, and rose the ranks and became a military general and advisor to the emperor. The emperor eventually gave him the task of commanding a fleet of ships down the coast of China all the way to India. Including the first, Zheng He made seven voyages total. In
Each of the sixty-two treasure ships were so large that they could fit nearly two american football fields (Doc C). Along with all of the smaller tender ships in the fleet, the total number of ships was a staggering two hundred and fifty five (Doc B). Such a large fleet could have, and should have easily accomplished many great feats such as discovering unexplored land, conquering land, or becoming permanent trade partners with foreign lands. Smaller fleets have accomplished infinitely times more than the fleet led by Zheng He. For example, Christopher Columbus went on four voyages with a fleet of only three total ships with a crew of ninety men. Over a span of ten years, this small fleet conquered north and South America, started the Columbian exchange, and started a boom of European trade. Zheng He’s fleet led to a ban on sea exploration in China, the fleet being dismantled, and was forgotten for five hundred years (Doc B). In fact, the voyages accomplished so little that the Chinese government was actually losing money funding them (Doc D). If a fleet of a scale as great as Zheng He’s could not accomplish a fraction of what a fleet of three ships could and leave such little impact, it does not deserve to be