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Article: When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- March 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. By Louise Levathes. (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp. 252. $13.95.)
This is an excellent book for undergraduate world history or Western civilization courses, as well as being useful for classes in Chinese history. In this discussion of the fifteenth-century treasure fleets of the Chinese dragon throne, Levathes shows how China "discovered" the West--not the other way around--nearly 100 years before European explorers Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus set out for Asia.
The story is compelling. In May 1403, when Europe was still emerging from the ...