Zheng He's seventh voyage
naval expedition · 1431 AD–1433 AD
The admiral Zheng He led seven Ming treasure fleets into the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433. The seventh and last, of more than a hundred ships, is the best documented: an itinerary with dates survives in Zhu Yunming's account, and Ma Huan and Fei Xin sailed with it and described the ports. Detached squadrons reached Mecca and the East African coast, which are not mapped. Zheng He is thought to have died on the way home, possibly near Calicut.
View Zheng He's seventh voyage on the map →
Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1431 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Set out from Nanjing. Reached Liujiagang → Changle. The fleet assembled here; Zheng He set up an inscription recording all seven voyages. Waited most of the year for the winter monsoon, and set up a second inscription. |
| 1432 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Qui Nhon → Surabaya → Palembang → Malacca → Samudra → Beruwala → Calicut. In the kingdom of Champa. The fleet's forward base, with a stockade and warehouses. |
| 1433 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Hormuz → Calicut → Samudra → Malacca → Liujiagang → Nanjing. The furthest port of the main fleet, reached in January 1433. Zheng He probably died about this time; where is not recorded. The fleet was home by July 1433. No further voyages were sent. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- Edward L. Dreyer, Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433, (2007)
- Ma Huan; translated by J. V. G. Mills, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores, (1970)