Ming dynasty · 1405-1433

Zheng He's treasure fleets

Between 1405 and 1433 the admiral Zheng He led seven huge Ming fleets across the Indian Ocean, as far as Arabia and East Africa. Students follow the voyages on the map and ask why China then turned its back on the sea.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, AD 1405 to AD 1420
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Between 1405 and 1433 the admiral Zheng He led seven huge Ming fleets across the Indian Ocean, as far as Arabia and East Africa. Students follow the voyages on the map and ask why China then turned its back on the sea.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Trace the routes of Zheng He's voyages on the map, from Nanjing to East Africa.
  • Explain the aims of the voyages: power, trade and tribute.
  • Discuss why the Ming ended the voyages after 1433.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1405

Setting sail

Open the map in 1405 and find Nanjing on the Yangtze, where the treasure ships were built. Follow the coast south. Which sea would the fleet cross to reach Southeast Asia?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1415

Into the Indian Ocean

Turn on Trade Routes. The sea route on the map runs from the Strait of Malacca to India and Arabia. Which of the places it passes did Zheng He's fleets also visit?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1420

Ming power

Click Stories and play Rise of Imperial China to its last chapter, "Ming power". Which two great projects of the early 1400s does it name?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Zheng He's first fleet had hundreds of ships; Columbus sailed in 1492 with three. Why did the Ming send such huge fleets?
  2. The fleets brought envoys and a giraffe from Africa. Why would the emperor be so pleased with a giraffe?
  3. Zheng He was a Muslim from Yunnan who had been taken to serve at court as a boy. What does his career tell us about the Ming court?
  4. Why did the Ming stop the voyages after 1433?
  5. If the Ming had kept sailing, how might world history have been different?
4

Game round

10 min

Rule History has no Ming emperor, so play Genghis Khan, whose descendants were the Ming's great enemy in the north. Let students take turns ruling. Then discuss: why did the threat from the steppe help end Zheng He's voyages?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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