At a glance
Era 10- Dates
- c. 1371-c. 1433 CE
- Who
- Chinese Muslim admiral who led seven great fleets across the Indian Ocean
- Era
- Islam in South-East Asia & China
ProfileZheng He
Zheng He was born around 1371 in Yunnan, in south-west China, into a Muslim family named Ma. His father and grandfather had made the Hajj. As a boy he was captured by Ming soldiers and placed in the service of a prince who later became the Yongle emperor, and he rose to be one of the emperor's most trusted men.
Between 1405 and 1433 he led seven great voyages into the Indian Ocean, with fleets of many ships and tens of thousands of men. They visited Champa, Java, Sumatra, Melaka, Sri Lanka, Calicut, Hormuz, Aden and the coast of East Africa. Melaka served as one of his bases. On the last voyage some of his men went on to Makkah.
He is believed to have died around 1433, at sea or soon after the final voyage. After him China stopped sending out such fleets.
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