Zheng He
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Zheng He was a Chinese admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty. His extensive explorations along the Indian Ocean led to a major increase in China's political and commercial influence. A eunu
Statue from a modern monument to Zheng He at the Stadthuys museum in Malacca City, Malaysia
Sculpture in Zheng He Park, Kunyang, featuring a young Zheng He with his father Ma Hajji
Artist's illustration of Zheng He's fleet
Galle Trilingual Inscription, left by Zheng He in Sri Lanka in 1409
Ibn Battuta
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Ibn Battuta was a Maghrebi Muslim traveller, explorer and scholar from Tangier. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, Asia, and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of
Zheng He
…the translator and diarist Gong Zhen. Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433, with fleets thought to be of comparable size. Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was…
1878 illustration by Léon Benett showing Ibn Battuta (centre) and his guide (left) in Egypt
A miniature from al-Wasiti's Maqamat of Al-Hariri of pilgrims on a hajj
Ottoman 17th-century tile depicting the Kaaba, in Mecca
Old City of Sanaa, Yemen