Zheng He led seven expeditions to what the Chinese called “the Western Ocean”). He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms — including King Alagonakkara of Ceylon, who came to China to apologize to the Emperor. The seven voyages are as listed.

Order Time Regions along the way 1st Voyage 1405-1407 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Aru, Sumatra, Lambri, Ceylon, Kollam, Cochin, Calicut 2nd Voyage 1407-1409 Champa, Java, Siam, Cochin, Ceylon 3rd Voyage 1409-1411 Champa, Java, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Quilon, Cochin, Calicut, Siam, Lambri, Kaya, Coimbatore, Puttanpur 4th Voyage 1413-1415 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Cochin, Calicut, Kayal, Pahang, Kelantan, Aru, Lambri, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Brawa, Malindi, Aden, Muscat, Dhufar 5th Voyage 1416-1419 Champa, Pahang, Java, Malacca, Sumatra, Lambri, Ceylon, Sharwayn, Cochin, Calicut, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Brawa, Malindi, Aden 6th Voyage 1421-1422 Hormuz, East Africa, countries of the Arabian Peninsula 7th Voyage 1430-1433 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Calicut, Hormuz… (17 politics in total)

The records of Zheng’s last two voyages, which are believed to be his farthest, were unfortunately destroyed by the Ming emperor. Therefore it is never certain where Zheng has sailed in these two expeditions. The traditional view is that he went as far as to Iran. The latest view, advanced by Gavin Menzies, suggested Zheng’s fleet has travelled every part of the world. However, virtually every authority in the field denounces Menzies’ claims as baseless.

This picture shows the route taken by Cheng Ho in his voyages.

There are speculations that some of Zheng’s ships may have traveled beyond the Cape of Good Hope. In particular, the Venetian monk and cartographer Fra Mauro describes in his 1459 Fra Mauro map the travels of a huge “junk from India” 2,000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. What Fra Mauro meant by ‘India’ is not known and some scholars believe he meant an Arab ship. Interestingly, Professor Su Ming-Yang thinks “the ship is European, as it is fitted with a crow’s nest, or lookout post, at the masthead, and has sails fitted to the yards, unlike the batten sails of Chinese ships.”

Compared to Columbus’ ship St. Maria, Cheng Ho’s treasure ship is much bigger. In the drawing below, the two flagships are superimposed to give a clear idea of the relative size of these two ships.