The journey of

ZHENG HE
1405–07: First Voyage
Zheng He’s first voyage establishes diplomatic relations with rulers in what is now southern Vietnam, Thailand, the Malaysian port
city of Melaka, the Indonesian island of Java, modern-day Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast of India, and Sri Lanka. He also rids
the Malacca Straits of a notorious Chinese pirate, Che’en Tsu-i.

1408–09: Second Voyage

1413–15: Fourth Voyage
Zheng He’s second voyage follows a similar route as his
Zheng He revisits the principal ports of Asia, stops at
first. On Sri Lanka Zheng He battles King Alagonakkara
Hormuz, and then sends part of his fleet down the coast
and brings him back to China. The emperor extracts a
of Arabia and into the Red Sea. The fleet then continues
promise from the king to pay tribute to China.
down the eastern coast of Africa to modern-day Somalia
1409–11: Third Voyage
and Kenya, almost to the Mozambique Channel. Zheng He
On his third voyage Zheng He makes stops at seaports
returns to China with diplomatic envoys from 30 different
in India. On the return trip he stops at Samudra on the
states.
northern tip of Sumatra.

1417–19: Fifth Voyage

The fifth voyage was undertaken mainly to return
foreign envoys to their homelands. Zheng He
retraces his previous routes, including stops at
Java, Sumatra, and eastern Africa.
1421: Sixth Voyage

On this short voyage, Zheng He returns Spring 1433

the remaining envoys to their home
countries from Southeast Asia to
eastern Africa.
1431–33: Seventh Voyage
The Yongle emperor dies in 1424. All
voyages are suspended until 1431, when
Zheng He embarks on a seventh voyage.
Zheng He dies in Calicut (now
Kozhikode), India, while on the
seventh voyage. The fleet returns to
China and never sets sail again. His
tomb is built in Nanjing, China, where
it remains today.

The voyage extends to Arabia and

eastern Africa.