From the current International Space Station to the age of great navigation in the 15th century, every corner seems to have the footprints left by human exploration, and the era of geographical discovery in the 15th period is of landmark significance to the development of mankind.
Zheng He went to the West, and this historical event occurred in the early 15th century during the reign of The Ming Dynasty's Yongle Emperor. At that time, China was the world's largest power, and it had the scientific and technological and economic strength to lead the world, so this created sufficient conditions for Zheng He to go to the West. China has been a large agricultural country since ancient times, with a very long coastline and tens of thousands of coastal residents. Therefore, since ancient times, China has had a development and curiosity attitude towards navigation, and every great unified dynasty hopes to spread its political system and prestige overseas, and Zheng He just meets the needs of this era.
The reasons that directly caused Zheng He to go to the West were as follows: The first point was that after Ming Chengzu succeeded to the throne, the Mongol forces continued to invade China, and there were still royalists loyal to Emperor Jianwen in the country who were eager to move. In order to avoid being attacked on all sides, Ming Chengzu had to send Zheng He to the south to establish good relations with the small local countries. Secondly, Zhu Di had taken the throne from his nephew after all, and he was worried that his legitimacy was insufficient and his imperial power was threatened, so he also urgently needed the recognition of his surrounding countries. The third point is that Emperor Jianwen's life and death are unknown, so he ordered Zheng He to search for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen in the southern countries while going to the West. If there is another reason, it is the idea of the unification of the world in China since ancient times. After the Yongle Emperor ascended the throne, the economy gradually prospered, and the politics continued to stabilize, and he needed to bathe overseas countries in the glory of daming. In fact, this is a deep-rooted guiding ideology in China's diplomacy for thousands of years, that is, to share peace and establish diplomatic relations peacefully, regardless of whether the country is a tribe or a small village.
The reason for this situation is that the rulers of successive dynasties have always had a superhuman sense of superiority over other countries, because for a long time, the country has been strong, and it has naturally given birth to a kind of idea of a heavenly kingdom abroad. After 1840, this idea of heaven and heaven was shattered, and many people's ideals were also overturned into the dust. However, these are all later words, and the actions of the great navigator Zheng He are still China's first large-scale diplomatic operation, and also a great action to explore and discover South Asia.
Zheng He walked the famous Maritime Silk Road in ancient China. In that era, navigation was an important carrier of the outward expansion of civilizations. The Maritime Silk Road bundled together the cultural economy of ancient Asia, Europe and Africa, becoming a link between many countries, and also making China a center of world economic and cultural exchange. At that time, when Zheng He went to the West, he fully implemented the principle of peace and goodwill that the emperor demanded of him, and when Zheng He sailed back to China, the envoys of various countries often returned with Zheng He, and even the kings of some small countries also came to China, and some directly died of illness in China.
Every time Zheng He went to the West, he would carry a large amount of gold and silver treasures and valuable handicrafts, and the small countries would return the local rare animals. It is said that once Zheng He brought back a unicorn, and the portrait of the unicorn has been preserved to this day, and from the perspective of modern people, this is the giraffe of Africa. When Zheng He went to the West for the fifth time, he brought back envoys from 17 countries. During his sixth voyage to the West, more than 1,200 envoys from 16 countries followed him back to China. In the process of Zheng He's voyage to the West, he constantly mediated the contradictions between small countries and called on these small countries in Southeast Asia not to bully the weak, which made the international environment at that time very harmonious. On the way to the West, Zheng He also told his personnel to abide by diplomatic etiquette and not to behave impolitely to people from other countries. Some people in his fleet were specially responsible for foreign trade, exchanging our country's silk, porcelain and other handicrafts for local specialties.
In the end, Chinese copper coins were the official currency of south Asian countries. Zheng He's men also brought back some craftsmen who fired glass, but the technology did not develop in China. In the process of exploring the Maritime Silk Road, Zheng He brought peace to the countries of South Asia, and also made the Silk Road better benefit the people of South Asia. The Ming Dynasty had a profound influence on Southeast Asia in the 15th century AD, and foreign exchanges were very frequent, and even 20,000 or 30,000 overseas Chinese settled in Nanyang countries since the Beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Since then, the power of overseas Chinese in Nanyang has gradually expanded, and some small countries have even been occupied by the descendants of Chinese. No matter how weapons and equipment develop, how economic strength is developed, and how prosperous science and technology are, human beings' desire to explore the unknown will never be erased.