What if China had continued it's naval voyages after zheng he? Would there be a chance of china reaching north america?
The reason China stopped sending out voyages is that the Ming turned inward
Not many ports/significant rivers along the Pacific Northwest Coast. They would have to sail all the way to Mexico before they found significant trading ports.
Not many ports/significant rivers along the Pacific Northwest Coast. They would have to sail all the way to Mexico before they found significant trading ports.
As I said above I think it depends on where they land and how much they explore. If they land in Vancouver Island and sail to California they probably conclude "nope, nothing valuable here" and America is just a cool thing they found. If, however, they land in Mexico or Peru, they discover large civilizations with lots of gold and very little in the way of horses, guns, or steel. I can see some Chinese trader deciding "I trade them guns and horses in exchange for lots of gold and silver."
America is probably the least likely destination for Chinese naval voyages.
Zheng He was not exploring unknown seas, his expeditions were traveling along established maritime routes, areas with significant trade with China already. On the other hand, the Pacific is mostly either empty or with a tiny scattered atolls, which would be of no interest to the Ming even if they encountered them. Even the European navigators didn't start off sailing into oblivion to see what was there; they attempted to get to India and Columbus discovered an extra continent in the way.
The Pacific is also huge relative to the Atlantic (as an example: Seattle, Washington is actually slightly closer to Madrid than it is to Beijing, despite being on the "west" coast). Even if the Chinese fleets did sail west a long distance (seeing nothing but ocean the whole way), they would almost certainly turn back before they came anywhere near the Americas; there's no point in an expedition through empty seas (and navigation becomes increasingly difficult).
So rather than an extremely unlikely voyage to the Americas, a more fruitful line of speculation would be about the effects of continued Zheng He style expeditions on Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean states.
Exactly right, my voyages were not voyages of exploration into Terra Incognito. They were missions to establish a larger Chinese presence on well known and established trade routes. There was simply no reason for my fleets to sail east into the vast wasteland of the Pacific Ocean or around the Horn of Africa as that nut Gavin Menzies suggests.
However, had the imperial court seen fit to continue a Chinese maritime presence in the Indian Ocean it would have been interesting to see the reaction of Portuguese when they showed up off East Africa in their pathetic little caravels and encountered majestic Chinese trading junks.
It's really really not.
It was stopped because they were never economically viable journeys, the people undertaking them take a loss. Which means of course that the moment the treasury starts to experience problems the treasure fleet goes.
America is probably the least likely destination for Chinese naval voyages.
Zheng He was not exploring unknown seas, his expeditions were traveling along established maritime routes, areas with significant trade with China already. On the other hand, the Pacific is mostly either empty or with a tiny scattered atolls, which would be of no interest to the Ming even if they encountered them. Even the European navigators didn't start off sailing into oblivion to see what was there; they attempted to get to India and Columbus discovered an extra continent in the way.
The Pacific is also huge relative to the Atlantic (as an example: Seattle, Washington is actually slightly closer to Madrid than it is to Beijing, despite being on the "west" coast). Even if the Chinese fleets did sail west a long distance (seeing nothing but ocean the whole way), they would almost certainly turn back before they came anywhere near the Americas; there's no point in an expedition through empty seas (and navigation becomes increasingly difficult).
So rather than an extremely unlikely voyage to the Americas, a more fruitful line of speculation would be about the effects of continued Zheng He style expeditions on Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean states.
It's really really not.
It was stopped because they were never economically viable journeys, the people undertaking them take a loss. Which means of course that the moment the treasury starts to experience problems the treasure fleet goes.