Thursday, July 08, 2004
Oceanic odyssey remains a treasure
Question for the ages: Who circumnavigated the globe 87 years before Italian explorer Cristopher Columbus (1451-1506) and 114 years before Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)?
Answer: Zheng He (1371-1433) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The ancient Chinese mariner travelled to the West seven times from 1405 to 1433, sailing more than 50,000 kilometres and visiting 37 countries and regions.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:26 PM
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