Zheng He's Maritime Voyages (1405-1433) and China's Relations with the Indian Ocean World from Antiquity

August 22, 2014 - 9:00am to August 24, 2014 - 5:00pm

University of Victoria
Victoria BC

Event Overview

Eighty-seven years before Christopher Columbus’ first transatlantic voyage, another of the world’s greatest navigators, the Chinese admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), launched the first of the seven voyages he would lead across the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433. This international conference focused both on Zheng He’s epic voyages in the early fifteenth century, and on China’s millennia of relations with the Indian Ocean world (extending from East Africa and the Middle East through South and Southeast Asia to the Far East). Conference themes included ecological diversity and interconnections, transportation over land and sea, the migration of plants, animals and people, the exchange of goods and gifts, contacts through diplomacy and warfare, the spread of religions and technologies, as well as other forms of interactions between China and the Indian Ocean world from ancient to modern times, especially around Zheng He’s era. The conference’s working languages were both English and Chinese, and papers were written and presented in either language. The Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) at the University of Victoria ihosted the conference.

Download the Conference Program

This conference reflects active participation by the University of Victoria in the international Major Collaborative Research Initiatives program, “The Indian Ocean World: The Making of the First Global Economy in the Context of Human-Environment Interaction.” http://indianoceanworldcentre.com/Team_4

Presented paper are available on the conference website.

Conference sponsors are: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC), McGill University, Canada.

More info on the bibliography here.