Zheng He

[Unkotare]

A mariner of formidable accomplishments, who sailed as far from China as Africa some 80 years before Columbus did his thing. His voyages, and his personal renown, influenced the Ming court. Not bad for a eunuch.

 

[aaronleland]

I was watching a History Channel documentary awhile ago about a Chinese sailor some claimed may have sailed as far as the California coast long before Columbus. On the coast they found doughnut shaped stones commonly used by Chinese sailors as anchors. They determined that the anchors were most likely from Chinese ships that had traded with the West in the 1800's, but it was an interesting theory.

 

[Unkotare]

I was watching a History Channel documentary awhile ago about a Chinese sailor some claimed may have sailed as far as the California coast long before Columbus. On the coast they found doughnut shaped stones commonly used by Chinese sailors as anchors. They determined that the anchors were most likely from Chinese ships that had traded with the West in the 1800's, but it was an interesting theory.

Gotta love the Samoyed in that sig pic.

 

[Unkotare]

Perhaps interestingly, given current global considerations, Zheng He's father was a Muslim who had completed the Hajj. Zheng He's name at birth (it was not at all uncommon at the time for names to change along with the circumstances of one's life) was Ma Sanbao, the family name Ma being derived from a Chinese rendition of the name...wait for it...Muhammad.


The whole 'eunuch' thing definitely sucks, but was also not at all uncommon at the time when one was captured in war or even as a family decision to apply a son for work in the royal court. During the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs became influential enough to constitute a powerful political faction in themselves. But still...sucks...