China sailed 300-ship fleets to Africa decades before Europe's Age of Exploration

Between 1405 and 1433, Ming admiral Zheng He led seven naval expeditions through Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa, commanding fleets of up to 300 ships and roughly 27,000 crew. His largest 'treasure ships' dwarfed anything Columbus would sail six decades later, yet China dismantled the program and let the fleet rot.

— Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433 — Oxford University Press, 1994
Go deeper: get the book →