ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
HISTORY
Bergreen, Laurence , Fray, Sara

Seven Voyages: How China's Treasure Fleet Conquered the Sea

176 pp. | Roaring Brook | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-62672-122-7 $19.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-62672-123-4 $10.99
(2) 4-6 This fascinating (if slightly repetitive) history recounts Admiral Zheng He's massive treasure fleet's travels through the South China Sea, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf, almost one hundred years before the voyages of the European explorers that fill history textbooks. Beginning when the ten-year-old Zheng He, born a Muslim, is kidnapped from his village (and castrated) to serve in the emperor's court, Bergreen and Fray provide a detailed examination of his life as well as a brief sketch of early-fifteenth-century China. The well-researched narrative guides readers chronologically through construction of the massive fleet of hundreds of vehicles, including scores of 450-foot-long treasure ships, and crews numbering in the tens of thousands spread out among them. Readers then follow each of Zheng He's seven voyages, which led to China controlling trade and sea travel throughout much of the world, before the dramatic downfall of the Yongle Emperor and with it the end of China's place in international trade. Maps, artwork reproductions, and occasional sidebars appear throughout; a bibliography is appended, as well as source notes pointing to many six-hundred-year-old contemporaneous records.
Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

RELATED 

HISTORY

We Are Still Here!
by Sorell, Traci
HISTORY

Shaped by Her Hands
by , Freeman, Anna Harber & Gonzales, Barbara
HISTORY

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
by Treuer, Anton
HISTORY

Classified
by Sorell, Traci
HISTORY

Susan La Flesche Picotte
by Bailey, Diane
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?