Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al- (Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-Zaynabi) (d. 1144). Vizier under the ‘Abbasid Caliphs al-Mustarshid, al-Rashid, and al-Muqtafi. He was on particularly good terms with the Great Saljuq Mas‘ud ibn Muhammad ibn Malik Shah.
Abu'l-Qasim 'Ali al-Zaynabi see Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Abu'l-Qasim 'Ali al-Zaynabi see Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al- (Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani) (Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani<?I>) (Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani) (1734/1735-1833). Moroccan (Berber) statesman and historian. He wrote a general history of Islam and a full account of his various journeys, among which is a description of his visit to Istanbul of 1786.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani was a Berber historian, geographer, poet and statesman from Morocco. He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alaouite dynasties. Al-Zayyani wrote fifteen works in the field of history and geography. Some authors even consider him the greatest historian of Morocco.
Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al- (Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani) (Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani<?I>) (Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani) (1734/1735-1833). Moroccan (Berber) statesman and historian. He wrote a general history of Islam and a full account of his various journeys, among which is a description of his visit to Istanbul of 1786.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani was a Berber historian, geographer, poet and statesman from Morocco. He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alaouite dynasties. Al-Zayyani wrote fifteen works in the field of history and geography. Some authors even consider him the greatest historian of Morocco.
Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zeferina
Zeferina. Yoruba slave woman, the leader of a runaway settlement formed by black Yoruba slaves outside the city of Bahia, Brazil. In 1826, she organized a revolt against the plantation masters. The uprising was put down by government troops, and Zeferina and her people were imprisoned.
Zeferina. Yoruba slave woman, the leader of a runaway settlement formed by black Yoruba slaves outside the city of Bahia, Brazil. In 1826, she organized a revolt against the plantation masters. The uprising was put down by government troops, and Zeferina and her people were imprisoned.
Zengi
Zengi (Imad ad-Din Zengi) (Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur) (ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur) (Zangi) (Zengui) (Zenki) (Zanki) (İmadeddin Zengi) (b. c. 1084/1085 - d. September 14, 1146, Damascus, Syria [Mosul, Iraq]). Turkish general who founded a state in Mosul in the twelfth century.
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur (Zangi or Zengi) was an Iraqi ruler who founded the Zangid dynasty and led the first important counterattacks against the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East.
When Zangī’s father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangī fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Maḥmūd II, appointed Zangī governor of Basra. When the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Mustarshid rebelled in 1127, Zangī supported the sultan, and the victorious Maḥmūd II rewarded Zangī by giving him the governorship of Mosul. Next, the key city of Aleppo submitted to Zangī’s authority to secure military protection against a possible Frankish Crusader conquest.
Zangī thus came to exercise authority over a considerable geographic area, but he wanted to create a kingdom that would also include Syria and Palestine. He was charged by the sultan with the duty of defeating the Christian Crusaders, and he saw himself as the champion of Islam. He was opposed, however, by Muslim princes who refused to accept his authority as well as by the Crusaders. To both Zangī reacted with equal harshness. By diplomacy, treachery, and warfare he steadily extended his authority, with the immediate goal of securing control of Damascus—a goal he never achieved. He did, however, capture Edessa, an important focal point of Frankish authority, in 1144—the Crusaders’ first serious setback. But Zangī could not press his advantage. Returning to Iraq to repress a revolt there, he was killed by a servant who bore him a personal grudge.
Though he continued his attempts to take Damascus in 1145, Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave named Yarankash in 1146. The Christian chronicler William of Tyre said that he was killed by a number of his retinue while he lay drunk in his bed.
Zengi's sudden death threw his forces into a panic. His army disintegrated, the treasury was looted, and the crusader princes, made bold by Zengi's demise, plotted to attack Aleppo and Edessa. Mu'in ad-Din immediately recaptured Baalbek, Hims, and other territories lost to Zengi over the years.
Zengi was the founder of the eponymous Zengid dynasty. In Mosul he was succeeded by his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I and in Aleppo he was succeeded by his second son Nur ad-Din.
Zengi was courageous, strong in leadership and a very skilled warrior according to all of the Islam chroniclers of his day. The conquest of Edessa being his greatest achievement. These same chroniclers however, also describe Zengi as being a very violent, cruel, and brutal man. Muslims, Byzantines, and Franks all suffered at his hands.
Imad ad-Din Zengi see Zengi
Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur see Zengi
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur see Zengi
İmadeddin Zengi see Zengi
Zangi see Zengi
Zenki see Zengi
Zengi (Imad ad-Din Zengi) (Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur) (ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur) (Zangi) (Zengui) (Zenki) (Zanki) (İmadeddin Zengi) (b. c. 1084/1085 - d. September 14, 1146, Damascus, Syria [Mosul, Iraq]). Turkish general who founded a state in Mosul in the twelfth century.
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur (Zangi or Zengi) was an Iraqi ruler who founded the Zangid dynasty and led the first important counterattacks against the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East.
When Zangī’s father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangī fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Maḥmūd II, appointed Zangī governor of Basra. When the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Mustarshid rebelled in 1127, Zangī supported the sultan, and the victorious Maḥmūd II rewarded Zangī by giving him the governorship of Mosul. Next, the key city of Aleppo submitted to Zangī’s authority to secure military protection against a possible Frankish Crusader conquest.
Zangī thus came to exercise authority over a considerable geographic area, but he wanted to create a kingdom that would also include Syria and Palestine. He was charged by the sultan with the duty of defeating the Christian Crusaders, and he saw himself as the champion of Islam. He was opposed, however, by Muslim princes who refused to accept his authority as well as by the Crusaders. To both Zangī reacted with equal harshness. By diplomacy, treachery, and warfare he steadily extended his authority, with the immediate goal of securing control of Damascus—a goal he never achieved. He did, however, capture Edessa, an important focal point of Frankish authority, in 1144—the Crusaders’ first serious setback. But Zangī could not press his advantage. Returning to Iraq to repress a revolt there, he was killed by a servant who bore him a personal grudge.
Though he continued his attempts to take Damascus in 1145, Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave named Yarankash in 1146. The Christian chronicler William of Tyre said that he was killed by a number of his retinue while he lay drunk in his bed.
Zengi's sudden death threw his forces into a panic. His army disintegrated, the treasury was looted, and the crusader princes, made bold by Zengi's demise, plotted to attack Aleppo and Edessa. Mu'in ad-Din immediately recaptured Baalbek, Hims, and other territories lost to Zengi over the years.
Zengi was the founder of the eponymous Zengid dynasty. In Mosul he was succeeded by his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I and in Aleppo he was succeeded by his second son Nur ad-Din.
Zengi was courageous, strong in leadership and a very skilled warrior according to all of the Islam chroniclers of his day. The conquest of Edessa being his greatest achievement. These same chroniclers however, also describe Zengi as being a very violent, cruel, and brutal man. Muslims, Byzantines, and Franks all suffered at his hands.
Imad ad-Din Zengi see Zengi
Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur see Zengi
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur see Zengi
İmadeddin Zengi see Zengi
Zangi see Zengi
Zenki see Zengi
Zeroual, Liamine
Zeroual, Liamine (Liamine Zeroual<?I>) (b. July 3, 1941, Batna, Algeria). President of Algeria (January 31, 1994 - April 27, 1999). Zeroual was appointed president by the Haut Comte de l’Etat, for a temporary period, and it was intended that he remain in this position until public elections were held. When these elections were held on November 28, 1996, it was Zeroual who was elected.
Zeroual’s background was with the military, and he had a position as general until his appointment as president. He was seen as a hardliner in the meeting with the Islamist groups, even though his government was in talks with the leaders of the FIS.
Following the elections, the new constitution of Algeria received seventy-five percent of the votes, This new constitution gave Zeroual a democratic mandate to keep out all political groups that defined themselves from religious and ethnic orientations.
Zeroual resigned from power in connection with the democratic elections (if not open for all candidates) of Algeria in 1999. He was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Zeroual joined the Algerian army at age 16 and fought against France during Algeria’s War of Independence. In 1965, Zeroual went to the Soviet Union for military training, after which he was posted to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to head an artillery unit. During the 1970s and ’80s, he rose steadily through the army’s ranks, commanding three of Algeria’s key military regions before being named land forces chief in 1989. That same year Zeroual resigned from the army after a dispute with President Chadli Bendjedid. He later served (1990–91) as ambassador to Romania, and he was named Algeria’s defense minister in 1993.
Following his appointment as president by the High Security Council in January 1994, Zeroual attempted on two occasions to broker peace negotiations with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut - FIS), Algeria’s main opposition party. Although both attempts ended in failure, Zeroual continued to express an openness to future negotiations on the condition that the FIS would renounce the use of violence.
With his easy victory in Algeria’s first multi-candidate presidential elections on November 16, 1995, Zeroual legitimized his status as Algeria’s head of state. Stressing peace and reconciliation as the twin themes of his presidency, he declared as his goal a broad-based government in which both secular and Islamic parties would work together toward implementing democracy. Although the FIS rejected Zeroual’s blueprint for constitutional reform, most of Algeria’s legal opposition parties voted in favor of the reforms at a national conference held in September 1996. The new constitution was approved by referendum in November. As part of a pact aimed at ending Algeria’s crisis and bloodshed, Zeroual also promised legislative elections in 1997. In September 1998, he announced his intention to resign from the presidency because of health issues, and, following the election of April 1999, he was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on January 14, 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.
Liamine Zeroual see Zeroual, Liamine
Zeroual, Liamine (Liamine Zeroual<?I>) (b. July 3, 1941, Batna, Algeria). President of Algeria (January 31, 1994 - April 27, 1999). Zeroual was appointed president by the Haut Comte de l’Etat, for a temporary period, and it was intended that he remain in this position until public elections were held. When these elections were held on November 28, 1996, it was Zeroual who was elected.
Zeroual’s background was with the military, and he had a position as general until his appointment as president. He was seen as a hardliner in the meeting with the Islamist groups, even though his government was in talks with the leaders of the FIS.
Following the elections, the new constitution of Algeria received seventy-five percent of the votes, This new constitution gave Zeroual a democratic mandate to keep out all political groups that defined themselves from religious and ethnic orientations.
Zeroual resigned from power in connection with the democratic elections (if not open for all candidates) of Algeria in 1999. He was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Zeroual joined the Algerian army at age 16 and fought against France during Algeria’s War of Independence. In 1965, Zeroual went to the Soviet Union for military training, after which he was posted to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to head an artillery unit. During the 1970s and ’80s, he rose steadily through the army’s ranks, commanding three of Algeria’s key military regions before being named land forces chief in 1989. That same year Zeroual resigned from the army after a dispute with President Chadli Bendjedid. He later served (1990–91) as ambassador to Romania, and he was named Algeria’s defense minister in 1993.
Following his appointment as president by the High Security Council in January 1994, Zeroual attempted on two occasions to broker peace negotiations with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut - FIS), Algeria’s main opposition party. Although both attempts ended in failure, Zeroual continued to express an openness to future negotiations on the condition that the FIS would renounce the use of violence.
With his easy victory in Algeria’s first multi-candidate presidential elections on November 16, 1995, Zeroual legitimized his status as Algeria’s head of state. Stressing peace and reconciliation as the twin themes of his presidency, he declared as his goal a broad-based government in which both secular and Islamic parties would work together toward implementing democracy. Although the FIS rejected Zeroual’s blueprint for constitutional reform, most of Algeria’s legal opposition parties voted in favor of the reforms at a national conference held in September 1996. The new constitution was approved by referendum in November. As part of a pact aimed at ending Algeria’s crisis and bloodshed, Zeroual also promised legislative elections in 1997. In September 1998, he announced his intention to resign from the presidency because of health issues, and, following the election of April 1999, he was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on January 14, 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.
Liamine Zeroual see Zeroual, Liamine
Zeybek
Zeybek (Zeibek). Turkish tribe in the region of Izmir, which distinguished itself by a peculiar dress. They were subdued under the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk endeavored to make the dance peculiar to this tribe into a Turkish national dance.
Zeybeks or sometimes Zeibeks were irregular militia and guerilla fighters living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries, generally of Turkmen and Yörük origins.
Before the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, large concentrations of Zeibeks could be found in western Anatolia, particularly in Isparta, Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, Denizli, Aydın, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Antalya, and the Balıkesir area.
The Zeibek acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. A leader of a Zeibek gang was called Efe and his soldiers were known as either Zeibeks or Kızan. Kızan was generally used for newly recruited or inexperienced Zeibeks. There was generally a tribe democracy. Decisions were taken in a democratic way. The Zeibek followed definite rituals for all actions; for example, the promotion of a kızan to zeybek was very similar to Ahi rituals.
Zeybeks had a special dance in which performers simulated hawks. Romantic songs about their bravery are still popular in Turkish folk music. The yatagan sword was their primary weapon, but most of them carried firearms as well.
The Zeibeks fought against the Greek invasion of Western Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. Their guerrilla warfare gave time for Turkish resistance to form a defense. After the formation of a Turkish national army, most of them joined and continued their resistance.
Zeybek (Zeibek). Turkish tribe in the region of Izmir, which distinguished itself by a peculiar dress. They were subdued under the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk endeavored to make the dance peculiar to this tribe into a Turkish national dance.
Zeybeks or sometimes Zeibeks were irregular militia and guerilla fighters living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries, generally of Turkmen and Yörük origins.
Before the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, large concentrations of Zeibeks could be found in western Anatolia, particularly in Isparta, Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, Denizli, Aydın, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Antalya, and the Balıkesir area.
The Zeibek acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. A leader of a Zeibek gang was called Efe and his soldiers were known as either Zeibeks or Kızan. Kızan was generally used for newly recruited or inexperienced Zeibeks. There was generally a tribe democracy. Decisions were taken in a democratic way. The Zeibek followed definite rituals for all actions; for example, the promotion of a kızan to zeybek was very similar to Ahi rituals.
Zeybeks had a special dance in which performers simulated hawks. Romantic songs about their bravery are still popular in Turkish folk music. The yatagan sword was their primary weapon, but most of them carried firearms as well.
The Zeibeks fought against the Greek invasion of Western Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. Their guerrilla warfare gave time for Turkish resistance to form a defense. After the formation of a Turkish national army, most of them joined and continued their resistance.
Zheng He
Zheng He (Cheng Ho) (Ma He) (Mǎ Sānbǎo) (Hajji Mahmud Shams) (1371–1433/1435), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.
Zheng He was a Chinese eunuch who commanded a series of maritime expeditions through Southeast Asia to India and the east coast of Africa for the Yongle emperor (r.1402-1424) of the Ming dynasty in the first decades of the fifteenth century.
Zheng He was born and raised in a Muslim family in central Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Both his father and his grandfather were known by the title hajji, which was conferred upon Muslims who made the pilgrimage to Mecca. At least during his early years, he was raised as a Muslim and may have acquired some knowledge of Arabic.
In 1381, when his locality was brought under the control of the Ming dynasty, the general in charge of the occupying armies selected Zheng He and a number of other boys for palace service. He was castrated when he was about ten years old, taken to North China, and assigned to serve on the staff of Zhu Di (who later became the Yongle emperor). During this time, he gained considerable military experience because, for the most part, his duties entailed following Zhu Di on campaign.
Zheng He is described as being very tall and stout (seven feet tall with a girth of five feet by one account) and as having a loud voice and a commanding stare. He was thus physically suited for the rigors of warfare and proved himself capable in battle, first during campaigns against the Mongols between 1393 and 1397 and later during Zhu Di’s rebellion of 1399, when he played a key role in the defense of Beijing.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne in 1402, Zheng He became one of his most trusted aides. During the first years of the reign, he held important military commissions. In 1405, however, he was put in charge of a large-scale maritime expedition to Southeast Asia, and he continued to supervise such expeditions until his death in 1433.
It is not clear why the Yongle emperor decided to mount these costly maritime expeditions. Several reasons are usually put forth: that he was afraid the Jianwen emperor, whose throne he had usurped, might have escaped to Southeast Asia, and he wanted to find him; that he wanted to suppress piracy in Southeast Asian waters; and that he wanted to extend the hegemony of the Ming Empire to the shores of India and Arabia. While there is some truth in each of these reasons, it is likely that it was the last one, the desire to extend the limits of his empire, that kept the expeditions alive for more than two decades.
The Yongle emperor sought to re-establish a universal world empire on the model of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Whereas the Mongols had only had a land-based empire, the Yongle emperor wanted to establish a maritime empire as well. Zheng He’s expeditions were intended to extend the hegemony of the Ming empire throughout Southeast Asia and beyond by demonstrating that the Ming navy was formidable and not easily defeated and that the Ming emperor protected maritime trade and was not hostile toward Islam. It is important to note that Zheng He’s expeditions all carried Arabic speakers conscripted from mosques in China who served as translators, for Islamic merchants had by this time come to control most of the trade routes between China and Arabia.
The first expedition, in 1405, carried a crew of 27,000 and comprised a fleet of more than 60 large vessels (440 feet long) and 255 smaller ships. The principal goal of this and the next few expeditions was to make the sea routes between China and India safe for maritime trade. In a major battle near Sumatra, Zheng He destroyed the fleet of a powerful Chinese pirate who had been harassing ships in the Straits of Melaka. During the expedition of 1409 to 1411, which reached the Malabar coast of India, Chinese luxury goods were displayed in Ceylon and other commercial centers to promote trade with China.
The expedition of 1413 to 1415, however, which reached the Arabian Peninsula, had a distinctly diplomatic cast. From this point on the expeditions revolved around carrying tribute missions to and from China. The expedition of 1417 to 1419 returned the envoys who had arrived in 1415. The expedition of 1421 to 1422, which reached the east coast of Africa, returned with even greater numbers of envoys. However, almost immediately after the Yongle emperor’s death in 1424, influential officials at court began to protest that such voyages were too costly to continue, and the expeditions were suspended until 1431. Zheng He, already in his sixties, was unable to visit every country in person during the last expedition, in 1431 to 1433. He may in fact have died en route at Calicut early in 1433, but the details of his death remain obscure.
Although the naval expeditions were discontinued after Zheng He’s death, the hegemony of the Ming emperor throughout Southeast Asia, at least as an arbiter of disputes and successions, remained unchallenged until the Portuguese arrived in the first years of the sixteenth century. In that respect at least, Zheng He did realize the Yongle emperor’s ambitions. Furthermore, the expeditions constituted the greatest feat of navigation undertaken in the world until that time. During the first several expeditions all of the major sea routes between China and the Islamic countries of the West were systematically explored and mapped. A vast amount of knowledge was added to the corpus of Chinese geography. Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who went on several of the expeditions, kept a record of about twenty places that he had visited. At least two other accounts were written by other members of the expeditions. Together these works comprise the only major accounts of travel in Asia from the fifteenth century and offer the most accurate and vivid picture of the region prior to the arrival of the Portuguese.
Cheng Ho see Zheng He
Ma He see Zheng He
Ma Sanbao see Zheng He
Hajji Mahmud Shams see Zheng He
Zheng He (Cheng Ho) (Ma He) (Mǎ Sānbǎo) (Hajji Mahmud Shams) (1371–1433/1435), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.
Zheng He was a Chinese eunuch who commanded a series of maritime expeditions through Southeast Asia to India and the east coast of Africa for the Yongle emperor (r.1402-1424) of the Ming dynasty in the first decades of the fifteenth century.
Zheng He was born and raised in a Muslim family in central Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Both his father and his grandfather were known by the title hajji, which was conferred upon Muslims who made the pilgrimage to Mecca. At least during his early years, he was raised as a Muslim and may have acquired some knowledge of Arabic.
In 1381, when his locality was brought under the control of the Ming dynasty, the general in charge of the occupying armies selected Zheng He and a number of other boys for palace service. He was castrated when he was about ten years old, taken to North China, and assigned to serve on the staff of Zhu Di (who later became the Yongle emperor). During this time, he gained considerable military experience because, for the most part, his duties entailed following Zhu Di on campaign.
Zheng He is described as being very tall and stout (seven feet tall with a girth of five feet by one account) and as having a loud voice and a commanding stare. He was thus physically suited for the rigors of warfare and proved himself capable in battle, first during campaigns against the Mongols between 1393 and 1397 and later during Zhu Di’s rebellion of 1399, when he played a key role in the defense of Beijing.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne in 1402, Zheng He became one of his most trusted aides. During the first years of the reign, he held important military commissions. In 1405, however, he was put in charge of a large-scale maritime expedition to Southeast Asia, and he continued to supervise such expeditions until his death in 1433.
It is not clear why the Yongle emperor decided to mount these costly maritime expeditions. Several reasons are usually put forth: that he was afraid the Jianwen emperor, whose throne he had usurped, might have escaped to Southeast Asia, and he wanted to find him; that he wanted to suppress piracy in Southeast Asian waters; and that he wanted to extend the hegemony of the Ming Empire to the shores of India and Arabia. While there is some truth in each of these reasons, it is likely that it was the last one, the desire to extend the limits of his empire, that kept the expeditions alive for more than two decades.
The Yongle emperor sought to re-establish a universal world empire on the model of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Whereas the Mongols had only had a land-based empire, the Yongle emperor wanted to establish a maritime empire as well. Zheng He’s expeditions were intended to extend the hegemony of the Ming empire throughout Southeast Asia and beyond by demonstrating that the Ming navy was formidable and not easily defeated and that the Ming emperor protected maritime trade and was not hostile toward Islam. It is important to note that Zheng He’s expeditions all carried Arabic speakers conscripted from mosques in China who served as translators, for Islamic merchants had by this time come to control most of the trade routes between China and Arabia.
The first expedition, in 1405, carried a crew of 27,000 and comprised a fleet of more than 60 large vessels (440 feet long) and 255 smaller ships. The principal goal of this and the next few expeditions was to make the sea routes between China and India safe for maritime trade. In a major battle near Sumatra, Zheng He destroyed the fleet of a powerful Chinese pirate who had been harassing ships in the Straits of Melaka. During the expedition of 1409 to 1411, which reached the Malabar coast of India, Chinese luxury goods were displayed in Ceylon and other commercial centers to promote trade with China.
The expedition of 1413 to 1415, however, which reached the Arabian Peninsula, had a distinctly diplomatic cast. From this point on the expeditions revolved around carrying tribute missions to and from China. The expedition of 1417 to 1419 returned the envoys who had arrived in 1415. The expedition of 1421 to 1422, which reached the east coast of Africa, returned with even greater numbers of envoys. However, almost immediately after the Yongle emperor’s death in 1424, influential officials at court began to protest that such voyages were too costly to continue, and the expeditions were suspended until 1431. Zheng He, already in his sixties, was unable to visit every country in person during the last expedition, in 1431 to 1433. He may in fact have died en route at Calicut early in 1433, but the details of his death remain obscure.
Although the naval expeditions were discontinued after Zheng He’s death, the hegemony of the Ming emperor throughout Southeast Asia, at least as an arbiter of disputes and successions, remained unchallenged until the Portuguese arrived in the first years of the sixteenth century. In that respect at least, Zheng He did realize the Yongle emperor’s ambitions. Furthermore, the expeditions constituted the greatest feat of navigation undertaken in the world until that time. During the first several expeditions all of the major sea routes between China and the Islamic countries of the West were systematically explored and mapped. A vast amount of knowledge was added to the corpus of Chinese geography. Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who went on several of the expeditions, kept a record of about twenty places that he had visited. At least two other accounts were written by other members of the expeditions. Together these works comprise the only major accounts of travel in Asia from the fifteenth century and offer the most accurate and vivid picture of the region prior to the arrival of the Portuguese.
Cheng Ho see Zheng He
Ma He see Zheng He
Ma Sanbao see Zheng He
Hajji Mahmud Shams see Zheng He
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