The history of the formation and development of the Maritime Silk Road can be traced back to the Zhou and Qin Dynasties. As early as112 BC, Zhou Wuwang named Kiko North Korea, and then "taught him how to weave silkworms in private fields". Qin Shihuang annexed six countries. In order to escape slavery, the Qin people migrated to North Korea, bringing with them sericulture and silk weaving techniques from China. Xu Fudong crossed Japan, "leading thousands of boys and girls in Qian Qian, bringing silk grain and rowing skills", and is still regarded as the god of sericulture by the Japanese people. During the Western Han Dynasty, China ships set sail from Xuwen and Hepu in Leizhou Peninsula, carrying a lot of silk and gold to Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and other countries, and returned after exchanging silk for pearls, precious stones and other special products of various countries.
During the Three Kingdoms period, China made great progress in shipbuilding and navigation technology. The seagoing ships built were solid and huge, and looked like castles from a distance. Wu Dong, located in the southeast coast, has strengthened its contacts and exchanges with Southeast Asian countries with the help of cruise ships. In the seventh year of Wu Chiwu (AD 244), Sun Quan sent Athena Chu and Kangtai to Funan (present-day Cambodia) and other countries to engage in diplomatic and investigation activities, thus learning a lot about the land and sea traffic in Southeast Asia and South Asia. They personally experienced and heard about more than 100 countries, and after returning to China, they wrote Fu Nan's Foreign Affairs and Fu Nan's Biography (also known as Wu's Foreign Affairs). This is the first-hand material obtained by China's earliest envoys to Southeast Asian countries.
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Fa Xian returned to China by sea from India via Shikoku (now Sri Lanka). He wrote The Story of the Buddha Country, which vividly described his experience of seeking dharma in a foreign country and what he saw and heard along the way, and described the voyage from the lion country to Guangzhou and related details. After Faxian, 65,438+00 monks came to Guangzhou via the South China Sea Silk Road. At that time, businessmen and monks from Southeast Asia, South Asia and even West Asia came to Guangzhou and Yangzhou along the Maritime Silk Road. Jiankang (now Nanjing) and other places traded or preached. According to Chinese and foreign historical records, at that time (the first half of the 5th century), China ships could sail to the Persian Gulf.
When Yang Di was in the Sui Dynasty, Chang Jun was sent to the red soil country (in today's Malay Peninsula) and gave the king 5000 silks. The king "came to welcome thirty ships" and sent the prince to China to have friendly exchanges with Chang Jun. Soon, Pei Ju, the minister in charge of foreign trade, held a grand disguised "trade fair" in Luoyang on the grounds that there were many barbarian tributes, which showed that the Sui Dynasty attached importance to overseas trade.
The Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties were the "development period" when the Maritime Silk Road entered history. In the second year of Kaiyuan (AD 7 14), the Tang Dynasty set up a city ship in Guangzhou, and the rise of the city ship trade in turn promoted the development of the Maritime Silk Road. In the "Guangzhou Tonghai Post Road" written by the geographer Jia Dan in the Tang Dynasty, the place names and navigation conditions along the way from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf and as far away as East Africa were recorded in detail. It can be seen that not only the route of the Maritime Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty far surpassed that of the Han Dynasty, but also the locations and voyages of countries along the route were more and longer than those of the Han Dynasty. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, compass navigation was used for navigation. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were as many as seven city shipping companies, and some even set up city shipping companies under them, adopting a more active open policy of encouraging and inviting foreign businessmen to trade in China. Since the Song Dynasty, ceramics, like silk, have become the main commodities transported on the Maritime Silk Road. In the Yuan Dynasty, in order to encourage the development of overseas trade, the imperial court adopted the method of government-run ships, that is, shipbuilding was funded by the government, and 70% of the profits went to the government and 30% to the merchants. At that time, the trade of silk and porcelain with overseas countries through the Maritime Silk Road was recorded in detail in Wang Dayuan's Islands. Zhou Daguan's "The Folk Customs of Zhenla" also recorded in detail the use of compass navigation during the voyage from Wenzhou to Zhenla.
The15th century of Zheng He's voyage to the Western Ocean was the ocean century when the world entered the era of great navigation. During this period, three major maritime activities took place in the east and west, namely 1405 to 1433, China navigator Zheng He's seven voyages to the west, 1492, Italian navigator cristoforo colombo's voyage to discover the new American continent, and Portuguese navigator Vaseo da Gama (1498).
Judy, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was a very successful feudal ruler. In order to expand the political influence of the Ming Dynasty overseas, strive for a peaceful and stable international environment and attract foreign tributes, he pushed China's relations with Asian and African countries and friendly exchanges and economic and cultural exchanges among all ethnic groups to a new stage of prosperity with the strong feudal economy in the early Ming Dynasty as the backing and advanced shipbuilding and navigation technology as the basis. Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were carried out under such a historical background.
Zheng Heyuan, whose real name is Ma, is from Kunming (now Jinning), Yunnan, a Hui and Muslim. /kloc-when he was 0/2 years old, he entered the official residence of Judy, the prince of Yan, and became a eunuch. After he proclaimed himself emperor, he was promoted to the eunuch of the Inner Palace, surnamed Zheng, also known as the "Sambo eunuch". At that time, many countries in Southeast Asia worshipped Islam, and Zheng He was brilliant and a Muslim, so when Ming Chengzu was ready to send people to the sea, he chose Zheng He. In the Ming Dynasty, Borneo (now Kalimantan) was an eastern ocean and a western ocean. Most of the places where Zheng He went were to the west of Borneo, so his voyage was called "Zheng He's voyages to the West" in history.
From the third year of Yongle (A.D. 1405) to the eighth year of Xuande (A.D. 1433), Zheng He was ordered to lead a huge ocean-going fleet (including more than 200 treasure ships of various sizes with more than 27,000 crew members) and made seven voyages to the Western Ocean, which lasted for 28 years. Zheng He's fleet crisscrossed the western Pacific Ocean and the northern Indian Ocean to the south of equatorial Africa and visited more than 30 countries in Asia and Africa. This is not only a feat in the maritime history of China and the world, but also marks the peak of the Maritime Silk Road.
The main places that Zheng He's fleet visited were Boni (north of Kalimantan), Mansiga (now Malacca, southern tip of Malay Peninsula), Pahang (Malay Peninsula), Sumatra (now Indonesia), Jiugang (now Sumatra), Sanyuan (around Dagang), Java (now Java, Indonesia) and Meroju (to Maluku Islands, Indonesia). Zhenla (present-day Cambodia), Siam (present-day Thailand), Bangsaone (present-day Bangladesh), Guri (present-day Kalikut, west coast of India), Little Gurun (present-day west coast of India), Mount Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Slippery Mountain (present-day Maldives Islands) and Hulumusi (Persian Gulf, belonging to Iran). Adan (now Aden, the mouth of the Red Sea), Tian Fang (now Mecca), Mugudushu (now Mogadishu, Somalia), Buchwa (now Brava, Somalia), Jubu (now south of the mouth of Juba, Somalia), Marin (now south of the equator in Malindi, Kenya), etc.
Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas carried out the opening-up policy of "there is no shortage of soldiers, inexhaustible people, civilized manners and music, and exotic Zhao He" in the early Ming Dynasty, which promoted the friendly exchanges between China and Asian and African countries, especially Islamic countries, and had a wide and far-reaching impact on the development of Islamic world history at that time. At the same time, it also directly affects the production and life of people everywhere, and plays a positive role in promoting the economic and cultural development of these countries and regions. Every time Zheng He's fleet was loaded with goods, it was mainly in exchange for China's handicrafts and local products of other countries. They brought handicrafts, such as silk, porcelain, iron, copper coins and so on. , brought back all kinds of native products, many of which are imported, even rare birds and animals, such as pearls, corals, precious stones, spices, kirin (giraffe), lions, ostriches and so on. Because he bought a lot of jewels and wealth, Zheng He's ship was called "treasure ship" and "treasure ship".
After Zheng He's voyage to the West, many Asian and African countries sent envoys to China. In addition to establishing diplomatic relations, they also conduct trade activities. For example, in Yongle 15 (14 17), three kings, Suludong, Xixi and Yao, arrived in Beijing and were received by Emperor Yongle. Dong Wang died of illness on his way home in Dezhou, Shandong Province, and Ming Chengzu wrote a letter to build a tomb for him. The tomb of the East King is well preserved. In Yongle 2 1 (1423), envoys from 16 countries, including Khrushchev, came to Beijing, with as many as 1200 people. Since Zheng He's voyage to the West, more and more China people have gone to Nanyang to seek peace and life. At the same time, many handicrafts and advanced production technologies have also been brought to Nanyang, which has played a great role in the development of Nanyang.