Zheng He's flag "treasure ship" was four hundred feet long - much larger than Columbus's. In this drawing, the two flagships are superimposed to give a clear idea of the relative size of these two ships. Columbus's ship St. Maria was only 85 feet long whilst Zheng He's flag ship was an astonishing 400 feet. Imagine six centuries ago, a mighty armada of Zheng He's ships crossing the China Sea, then venturing west to Ceylon, Arabia, and East Africa. The fleet consisting of giant nine-masted junks, escorted by dozens of supply ships, water tankers, transports for cavalry horses, and patrol boats. The armada's crew totaling more than 27,000 sailors and soldiers. Loaded with Chinese silk and porcelain, the junks visited ports around the Indian Ocean. Here, Arab and African merchants exchanged the spices, ivory, medicines, rare woods, and pearls so eagerly sought by the Chinese imperial court. Seven times, from 1405 to 1433, the treasure fleets set off for the unknown. These seven great expeditions brought a vast web of trading links -- from Taiwan to the Persian Gulf -- under Zheng He's imperial control. This took place half a century before the first Europeans, rounding the tip of Africa in frail Portuguese caravels, 'discovered' the Indian Ocean.
