Name: Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History #21
Uploaded: 2013-05-02T09:19:17.000Z
Duration: 10 min 38 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

and today we’re going to do some compare and contrast,

because that’s what passes for hip in world history circles.

Christopher Columbus who in 1492 sailed the ocean blue

and discovered America, a place that had been previously discovered

Here’s a little rule of thumb, Me from the Past:

This is going to serve you well both in your academic career

I’d argue that Columbus has a deserved reputation in history—

[Save his Harry Potter directional stint]

but was he really the greatest sailor of the 15th Century?

Well, let’s meet the other contestants.

[playing for a lifetime supply of Garlique]

In the red corner, we have Zheng He, who, when it comes to ocean-going voyages

was the first major figure of the 15th century.

from scrappy little Portugal, who managed to introduce Europeans

Columbus, you have to sit in the polka-dotted corner.

[until you learn special effects are a privilege, not a crutch]

As you’ll no doubt remember from our discussion of Indian Ocean trade,

involved ports in Africa and the Middle East and

This last point explains why our three contestants were so eager to set sail.

Well, that and the ceaseless desire of human beings to discover things

who is probably the greatest admiral you’ve never have heard of.

Couple of important things about Zheng He:

That may seem strange until you consider that by the late 14th century China had long experience

especially when they were ruled by, wait for it....

[Hark! The commotive, cacophonic caterwauling of clattering conquerors!]

Fortunately, 15th century China had excellent general anesthesia,

so I’m sure it didn’t hurt at all when they castrated him—

Zheng He rose from humble beginnings to lose both of his testicles,

and become the greatest admiral in Chinese history.

Zheng He led seven voyages throughout the Indian Ocean,

the expeditions of the so-called treasure ships, and they were huge.

Columbus’ first voyage consisted of three ships.

Zheng He led an armada of over 300 ships.

more than half of London’s population at the time.

And some of these ships were, well, enormous.

were over 400 feet long and had 7 or more masts.

See that little tiny ship there in front of the Treasure Ship?

That’s a to-scale rendering of Christopher Columbus’s flagship,

The Indian Ocean trade routes were already known to him

He visited Africa, India, and the Middle East,

and in a way, his journeys were trade missions,

but not in the sense of filling his ships up with stuff to

China was the leading manufacturer of quality goods in the world,

and there wasn’t anything they actually needed to import.

What they needed was prestige and respect so that people would continue to see China

through which foreign rulers or their ambassadors would come to China and engage in a debasing

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Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History #21

world

great

week

people