Zheng He Dies at Sea

1433

On the return leg of his seventh voyage, the admiral who had linked China to Africa by sail died somewhere in the Indian Ocean and was, most likely, buried at sea. The Confucian court at Beijing quietly dismantled the shipyards. The treasure fleets would never sail again. His tomb in Nanjing became a pilgrimage site for Chinese Muslims, and his voyages remain a source of national pride and scholarly debate.