Zheng He hanghai tu (Zheng He Navigation Chart)

Zheng He led Ming fleets to the Western Seas seven times between 1405 and 1433. Scholars believe that this chart was probably drawn to represent his sixth voyage (1421-1422). It was compiled by Mao Yuanyi in Wubei zhi (1621) nearly 200 years after Zheng’s death. The chart starts in Nanjing and reaches as far as the East Coast of Africa. It was drawn using the traditional pictorial landscape method, showing the positions of countries visited and information providing a basic navigational guide to seamen.