He also had his sights set on Japan and tried to invade, not once, but twice: first in 1274 and again in 1281. Kublai Khan built an empire for the Mongols in the 13th century, conquering China in 1279. ( Kublai Khan achieved what Genghis could not: conquering China.) Alas, the Song’s newfound naval mastery was not enough to withstand the invasion of the mighty Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. Now, they applied their experience to building up a naval fleet. ( See pictures from along Marco Polo's journey through Asia.)įor centuries, the Song had been embroiled in battles along inland waterways and had become indisputable masters of river navigation. The forced withdrawal to the south prompted a new capital to be established at Hangzhou, a port strategically situated at the mouth of the Qiantang River, and which Marco Polo described in the course of his famous adventures in the 1200s. The Song lost control of northern China in 1127, and with it, access to the Silk Road and the wealth of Persia and the Islamic world.
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While a well-equipped navy had been built up during the early years of the Song dynasty (960- 1279), it was in the 12th century that the Chinese became a truly formidable naval power. Setting off from the coast of eastern China with colossal cargoes, they soon ventured farther afield, crossing the Strait of Malacca while seeking to rival the Arab ships that dominated the trade routes in luxury goods across the Indian Ocean-or the Western Ocean, as the Chinese called it.
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Chinese sailors were using compasses to navigate their way across the South China Sea. The vessels’ cargo included material goods, such as rice, tea, and bronze, as well as intellectual ones: a writing system, the art of calligraphy, Confucianism, and Buddhism.Īs far back as the 11th century, multi-sailed Chinese junks boasted fixed rudders and watertight compartments-an innovation that allowed partially damaged ships to be repaired at sea. Chinese ships had set sail from the ports near present-day Shanghai, crossing the East China Sea, bound for Japan. Zheng He’s voyages followed in the wake of many centuries of Chinese seamanship. He continued to serve alongside the emperor and became the commander of China’s most important asset: its great naval fleet, which he would command seven times. After Zhu Di became the Yongle emperor in 1402, Ma He was renamed Zheng He in honor of that battle. Ma He burnished his reputation as a military commander with his feats at the battle of Zhenglunba, near Beijing. Skilled in the arts of war, strategy, and diplomacy, the young man cut an imposing figure: Some described him as seven feet tall with a deep, booming voice. Over the next decade, Ma He would distinguish himself in the prince’s service and rise to become one of his most trusted advisers. Many young boys taken from the province were ritually castrated and then brought to serve in the court of Zhu Di, the future Ming emperor or Yongle.