When China Ruled the Waves (Chinese Dynasty Documentary) | Timeline

chyna awaking giant emerging in the 21st century from behind the closed doors of a long and secretive past rewriting the rules of international trade but China has been here before 600 years ago her bidding was done by a vast and unstoppable fleet led by one remarkable Admiral it's a mafia-like operation it's an overwhelming demonstration of power one of history's most accomplished leaders at sea yet today he remains a mysterious figure outside his own country the most successful emeral probably the maritime he shove the word an unrivaled naval superpower in an age of discovery could China have conquered the world as a modern day adventurer risks everything to sail in its wake this is the story of one of the greatest armadas ever assembled when China the waves the dawn of the 15th century Europe is being ravaged by war and the Black Death Columbus won't stumble across America for nearly another century but China the Middle Kingdom is a sophisticated and powerful nation and control of her destiny has just changed hands in 1402 after a bloody rebellion a new emperor zhudi snatches power from his own nephew to start an ambitious new era for the ming dynasty ruthlessly executing those who might oppose him he orders the construction of a new imperial fleet of an extraordinary scale major rivers such as the yangzi made it easy to transport timbers to the coastal capital nanjing to support a huge shipbuilding program seven enormous dry docks each over 300 metres long allowed the construction of three ships in each by a workforce of twenty to thirty thousand people within three years more than 1,600 ships had been refitted or built from scratch the largest vessels were monstrous nine mastered junks known as treasure ships powered by huge red silk sails it's thought their dimensions may have rivaled those of some world war two aircraft carriers in chinese historical records we know that the largest treasure boat is about a hundred forty meters long and fifty more than 50 meters wide and I think it's credible records because through archaeology like the ship yard discovered in Nanjing the capital of Ming it was big enough to construct that kind of the treasure boat the design incorporated several Chinese innovations including watertight compartments / bulkheads modelled on the structure of bamboo which made them very strong and less likely to sink if hold formidable dragon eyes were painted on the bow in the belief that the ship would be able to see where it was going the junks could hold over 2,000 tons of cargo but the Emperor was not super sizing his fleet purely for the practical advantages the size of the vessels in Jing has fleet reflects a number of factors prestige is a very obvious one the bigger your ship the more powerful you appear if you go on to the 16th century you'll find the crowned heads of Europe all building monumental ships to say look at me I'm bigger than the next guy you know it's that red sports car thing the large junks were complemented by smaller support boats and more warships than the entire Spanish Armada by 1405 the treasure fleet as it was known comprised 317 vessels and almost 28,000 men larger than the combined fleets of Europe at that time a task force of this scale would not be seen again until World War one to lead his Imperial Navy Judy appointed a loyal military commander named Jang her a man he trusted to take his empire to the world with an admiral at the helm the fleet was ready for the Emperor's orders fast forward six hundred years and the birthplace of the fleet Nanjing is still present but the modern city is a far cry from its days as an imperial capital when it was surrounded by a wall 12 meters high and 24 kilometres long it's now a typical industrial city and an urban wasteland has swallowed up the site of perhaps the largest shipyard in Chinese history but for one 21st century Explorer this part of China's history is still very much alive rex warner became fascinated with the story of the treasure fleet almost 20 years ago and has decided to retrace the steps of its legendary commander in the type of vessel that would have been used in the 15th century he's found a rare breed of ship that is now virtually disappeared from China an ocean-going junk that has assembled the perfect crew to manage the team planned to follow in the wake of the treasure feet to some of its most famous ports of call and look for evidence it may have left behind calling cards that might still be found 600 years old to do so they will need to negotiate some of the most treacherous waters on the planet in many ways still as dangerous to seafarers today as they were in the 15th century but before they can go anywhere their new home for the next four months the precious dragon needs an extensive refit in Hong Kong harbour experienced see woman and first mate Niki Alfred oversees the work found by Rex in England the precious dragon is a replica of a traditional Chinese fishing junk used two hundred years ago with a high poopdeck that overhangs the stern and four-sided sails stiffened with bamboo battens at just over 18 metres in length she's not quite a treasure ship and Rex is tiny crew of five we'll need to work together to make the most of her basic facilities as the final preparations are made Rex thinks it prudent to pay homage to the goddess Tian Fei the patron of Chinese sailors burning incense is a way of asking for good luck during their passage across the stormy and pirate-infested South China Sea this temple was built in 1416 and for centuries Chinese sailors have held a strong belief in the goddesses power to deliver them from the dangers of the high seas finally ready to depart the only thing the team needs now is some good weather but gale force winds keep them pinned in Hong Kong harbor for two days when the winds subside they can begin their journey into the past [Music] the man heading up the treasure fleet was himself a larger-than-life character born in 1371 ma he as he was originally called was captured at the age of 10 by the first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang during the suppression of an uprising [Music] age 13 he was castrated and as a eunuch put into the service of the Empress fourth son Judy when Judy ascended the throne he gave mahi the honorific name Sheng her and made him his head eunuch a special relationship had developed in general eunuchs are the slaves to the Masters but in each individual cases you find they also have a very different a relationship with the Masters in many cases they have a very personal very close relationships almost like brothers or father and the son so in Chinese history you can find that many unique and extremely powerful positions a eunuch severed manhood was kept in a sealed case ready to be reunited with its owner in the afterlife [Music] Jeng hers was a forced castration but also a prerequisite for a successful role in the royal court it's like passing the civil service exam you have to make a sacrifice to prove your loyalty because you don't have any future prospects your loyalty to your master is unquestioned you know you're not going to be setting up a rival dynasty because you're not going to have a rival dynasty you're not going to interfere in the Imperial harem because you're not interested in things like that so what's going on is you're making a demonstration of loyalty jang-ho had accompanied the Emperor on many military campaigns and so had proved himself capable of commanding a force the size of the treasure fleet this was the highest military post ever awarded to a eunuch and he was even allowed to issue Imperial orders himself at sea vanity may also have influenced the Emperor's decision Jonah himself was very impressive handsome tall men and so he is the image the Emperor would like to project as representing himself or representing the Empire one of Judy's first orders may have been to hunt down his deposed predecessor but his real intention was to use the power of the fleet in a more subtle way it's about prestige and power it's about things that kings and emperors are always interested in you saying look at me I can do this is something that my predecessors didn't do they didn't send big fleets they didn't operate in these areas look at me I'm even bigger and stronger than the last guy Judy was not intending to wage war but instead to do business any transactions however would be very much on his own terms on board the precious dragon two and a half days from Hong Kong the voyage has got off to an uncomfortable start the wind has blown up to 30 knots and the sea is looking increasingly menacing the South China Sea is frequently hit by tropical storms when the wind speed exceeds 120 km/h they're classed as typhoons a word derived from the Chinese for big winds even today's ships struggle in these stores to the cruise of the treasure fleet they must have been terrifying the crew of the precious dragon have got their work cut out it's two and a half days since we left Hong Kong and it's been a bit rough sometimes the the boat rolls portholes under and squirts of water come through but otherwise she's she's coping well we're sailing almost juice South now and we're about a third the way to Vietnam to help retrace the Admirals steps Rex is employing two of the few records which have survived from the time of the treasure fleet the first is a copy of the fleet's original 7 meter long navigation chart while not drawn to scale it depicts coastlines and key landmarks with written instructions detailing how to sail from port to port Rex also has a written record of the fleet's exploits that was kept by one of Zheng Herz translators Marwan who carefully documented the new people and cultures they encountered the treasure fleet utilized many existing trade routes and would have headed first to the region then known as Champa which is now part of Vietnam this is therefore a logical first stock for Rex and after a rollercoaster ride the team reached the port of keen on Nikki knocks up a makeshift courtesy flag this is a country's national flag flown by any boat that is visiting its waters however the immigration officials are not easily impressed and the crew are left to make running repairs in the harbor while the paperwork is scrutinized it's four days now since we arrived we hadn't yet been allowed ashore bureaucracy our number one enemy is still flourishing but we've been told that we will be allowed to shore and then we'll get our short passes today please here are the frontier police they've assigned one person to us who's on board throughout the day and night to look after us and goddess also a bit frustrating not being able to go shore and explore what marwan found here 600 years ago but hopefully if we can get our short passes today then tomorrow we'll be able to go ashore and start to explore and investigate that zheng her arriving in a country with 28,000 men and some pretty impressive Hardware would have had no such problems the psychological impact of seeing such a fleet appear on the horizon would have been huge anybody who saw for the first time a huge fleet with the foreigners must be a quite impression it's a hot weather there worrying the white sea oak but when they arrived and almost like something almost kind of from different world different decor coasts but could also be angels because they brought her wonderful staff for them the wonderful stuff that the Chinese brought to trade included porcelain and silk but in exchange they demanded a high symbolic price it's a mafia-like operation I'll look after you if you treat me nicely the Emperor's the Godfather of Asia he's in control of everything and he likes to remind people of this quite forcefully now and again and he gets paid off in whatever it is he likes to be paid in so it's that kind of relationship it's an enforcing it's subtle but it's quite clear if you mess with the Chinese emperor he can take you down the currency of this vast protection racket known as tribute could take many extraordinary forms if you read Chinese historical books the office find that Chinese Empress loved foreign Tribune's strange animals strange plants they come from different lands and it's because it's symbolic the Chinese Empress as the sons of heaven by controlling this plants and animals they feel that they are the center of universe foreign envoys would often travel back with the fleet or simply arrive at the Emperor's Court bearing gifts of elephants parrots peacocks or giraffes unusual solutions to the problem of what to get for a man who has everything after eight days cooped up on the boat immigration visas are finally issued but it leaves wrecks just one day to explore the old walled capital Chan City mentioned by Marwan in his Diaries going Southwest you come to the city where the king resides Chang city has a war of stone with openings at four gates there are some interesting remains of temples and stone towers but nothing that looks likely to have been left behind by Zheng her/himself if there's any evidence of the treasure fleet left in Vietnam it won't be found by a philosophical Rex on this visit I wonder what junker found when he arrived in Vietnam and what he whether he had similar problems to us whether he had to get 28,000 visas for the 28,000 people in this voyage if he did then his fine would have been rather large because we were paying Oh about 30 pounds each it's a disappointing start but at least the precious dragon can be stopped with provisions and the odd souvenir [Music] the treasure fleet would have spent more than two years at sea at a time Rex's team are going to have to cut a few corners for their second leg they had not due south for Java and Sumatra as the treasure fleet would have done but for a later port of call for Sheng her the Malaysian city-state of Malacca it's a stretch of two thousand kilometers of open water but the rough weather is the least of their concerns this part of the South China Sea has another problem pirates these waters surrounded by valuable commodities such as spices have long offered rich pickings to traders and those that prey on traders pirates still roam today and stories abound of boarding and robbery they've not been underway for long before unease quickly turns to panic as a boat full of men approaches [Music] this time the crew can relax though the only cash they'll be relieved off is in exchange for some freshly caught fish [Music] pirates would have been on jangers radar as well and his warships were well armed with cannons and incendiary weapons to guard against them in 1407 the fleet even captured a Chinese pirate named chen zhu ii at Pallenberg who was later executed in nanjing this marked the end of the first voyage the fleet had stamped chinese authority on south-east asia and more voyages would be ordered by Zhu D the high seas were at his mercy after another seven anxious days at sea the tired crew of the precious Dragon are relieved to finally arrive in Malacca at the turn of the fifteenth century this natural harbour was an important trading port at the entrance to the Indian Ocean with his prosperous City I'd hungrily by neighboring states in 1405 the Moroccan ruler struck a deal with Judy in return for malakas sworn allegiance the Chinese emperor recognized the city as an independent Kingdom a serious deterrent to potential aggressors this alliance was formalized by a stone tablet erected in melaka by sheng her during the treasure fleets third major voyage once ashore wrecks goes on the hunt for the tablet his best lead seems to be the Sampo Kong temple built in 1795 and dedicated to the memory of Shanghai at the back of the temple Rex finds two stone tablets but his excitement is short-lived there are two tablets commemorating June at her and his voyages which were erected here in the temple when it was built two hundred years ago for so perhaps that's the the closest evidence I can find off his visit he's drawn a blank again along with the statue in the courtyard though it's an indication that the legacy of Jing her still means something to local people and well it might the Moroccan Chinese community are fond of the story that they're descended from Chinese nobility legend has it that a princess was brought here by the treasure fleet to Wed the Malak insulting with her five hundred hand maidens marrying local men and settling in an area known as bukit china or china hill in truth however the population is more likely to have descended from treasure fleet sailors who simply jumped ship tempted by life in another land the spread of Chinese populations throughout Southeast Asia was one of the most fundamental if unintended consequences of the voyages today Luke it is the site of the largest and oldest Chinese cemetery outside China jenga's next port of call would have been the city-state of semu dara towards the northern end of sumatra today a modern boom town known as Lok Samui to get there the freshest dragon will have to tackle the tricky 1,100 kilometer malacca strait they're sailing directly into the wind and are still in pirate territory so diesel power is employed for this leg at times though modern technology can be even less reliable than the weather while the rest of the crew keep an anxious watch engineer Kevin grist works fast to diagnose the problem a blocked fuel pipe there's tangible relief onboard as the engine splutters back into life and the precious dragon can continue away from danger as they approach LOC Samui though the crew receives a radio message from the port authorities warning them not to land occur is Indonesia's most volatile territory and fighting has erupted between government forces and achenes separatists in 1414 the treasure fleet encountered similar troubles in the region but Jang her intervened and ended the power struggle by force no one in the region was now outside the Emperor's reach and troublemakers would not be tolerated unable to land the team swing the precious dragon west they'll have to stretch their provisions for a few extra days but at least they have the advantage of modern tinned food feeding and maintaining a fleet the size of Jang hers would have been a major logistical challenge preserving meat at sea in the tropics was difficult so live animals were housed on some of the supply ships that just carried food for the voyage life at sea was harsh for the average sailor although their expectations would have been very different to our own the problem is that we take too much of the 21st century with us the things that we find surprising would have been a matter of no concern for contemporary 15th century Chinese Mariners it's rough out there there are pirates the waves are pretty vicious the wind fails the food's not very good the water doesn't smell very nice so it's part of the job for us seeing foreign countries is a little bit banal because we do it all the time for mariners who'd never left China arriving on the coast of India would have been a wondrous experience these people are completely different the food is different everything is different so that would have been it would have been a cultural impact not the the rather miserable experience of sailing at sea for long periods of time but did the enormous crew need to be press-ganged into service I don't think they were forced into the army because the Ming Army system actually is that you inherited the profession if your father was a soldier and you become a soldier I think if you look at Chinese history you'll find it's very common to gather a huge labor force to beat the and press tomb spirit the the Great Wall of China so this fleet is just one of examples of that at the team's next destination lies an ancient landmark also recorded by Marquand in a sea to the northwest of the country there is a large flat topped steep mountain ship's hook to the smarten as a guiding mark this is way island with its now sleepy port of sabang less than a hundred years ago it was a port bigger than Singapore ships crossing the Indian Ocean refueled here and it was also used as a fueling point by the Japanese when they occupied the city in World War two [Music] maha wan made some observations about life on the island at a foot of this mountain is a resident population of 20 or 30 families each main size himself a king if you ask his name he says reply are cool Raja aku is Malay for aye Raja for Prince the present-day inhabitants of way appear to live in their own very peaceful world although they no longer call themselves Raja after a quick stop to replenish the dwindling rations the crew prepare themselves for a nine-day crossing of the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka according to the original chart they must steer exactly 285 degrees for 40 watches then two hundred and seventy seven point five degrees for fifty watches the Chinese were sophisticated navigators and were among the first to use the magnetic compass at sea probably as early as the 11th or 12th centuries they kept time by burning incense sticks which defined the length of a watch 2.4 hours exactly 10 per day [Music] they also made use of the Stars the altitude of key stars above the horizon was recorded in star diagrams that could be referenced when sailing along certain latitudes in a similar way Nicky uses a sextant to measure the altitude of the Sun and check the precious dragons course she has the advantage of radio communications to confirm the time at a place of known coordinates allowing a calculation of longitude to be made this was made possible by the invention of the chronometer in the 17th century [Music] the ability of the Chinese to navigate as accurately as they did without either sextant or chronometer was remarkable more stormy weather means the precious dragon takes another battery but despite this the crew still make good time and after eight days hard sailing they reach land [Applause] the treasure fleet valued Sri Lanka for its ivory pearls and gemstones once said to be the crystallized tears of Buddha gemstones are still an important commodity for the island today dredging them by hand remains a favored technique among the specimens that have been found here as some of the world's largest sapphires mark Juan's diary records the unique geography and religious significance of the island there is a large mountain which penetrates high into the clouds on a summit of the mountain there is a single imprint of immense foot the mountain is the two-and-a-half thousand meter adam's peak or slip pada a place of pilgrimage for many religions for over 800 years [Music] the long arduous climb is traditionally made overnight Buddhist pilgrims drape a needle and thread around a bush to mark the spot where Buddha is said to have stopped to mend a tear in his robe it's two o'clock in the morning I'm heading up Adams peak it's quite special to be going up Adams because it's one of the the major places described by Marwan in his diary rex finally reaches the summit just before dawn the effort the Rising Sun casts a striking shadow of the mountain on the mist below the impression in the rock of the summit referred to by Marwan represents to Buddhists the footprint of Buddha to Muslims that of Adam and to Hindus of Shiva some pilgrims burned butter as an offering others fill the morning air with the fragrance of incense sticks and they each toll the bell once for every ascent they've made [Music] having failed to find an original stone tablet in Melaka rex is keen to locate another stone which Jeng her brought to sri lanka in 1411 as a gift for the king finally he finds what he's looking for lime in the National Museum in Colombo and I've been able to find the tablet which was erected by Juncker in Gaul 600 years ago it's a stone tablet about five foot high and on it is writing in Chinese and in Tamil shows the Chinese thought very highly off different religions there is also a third Persian inscription on the tablet it's multi-ethnicity was typical of judy's foreign policy cultural sensitivity being key to developing the trade relations he desired with success in sri lanka the crew finally have something to celebrate by 1422 Sheng her had led the treasure fleet from six successful voyages traveling as far as the Swahili coast of East Africa Judy had succeeded in his plan to dominate his neighbors theories do exist however that the Chinese reached far more distant shores including Australia and North America decades before Columbus was even born if proved they would turn history on its head but most historians are dismissive of such claims it has been asserted by some popular writers that Seungho or other Chinese enterprises might have reached Canada North America South America Australia wherever there's no evidence for this there's no reason to suppose that they did had they done so Jing house own hagiographies would have recorded the fact what's been written down is probably only 20% or 50% of what happened so we don't really know what it actually happened I think Juncker could kind of I went to some places never been recorded but for places like Europe or America that significant discovery it's not in any of the records so why with the world at their feet did these explorers from the east not go further could they have mapped the modern world it seems they had the capability but not the desire the thing I was sent off to visit all of the world that the Chinese knew about and cared about that's not all of the world but certainly all the world that mattered all the world that was close enough to have any impact on China or indeed close enough to be impressed by China and pay tribute columbus three scrappy little vessels that the king of spain couldn't care less about it was like buying a lottery ticket if it came off great if you lost them doesn't matter anyhow isn't Columbus he's not able to make it up as he goes along he's following orders if he'd golf and found America that it decapitated him unlike future Western powers Judy also showed an equal lack of interest in making China into a colonial empire at no stage did they want to conquer foreign countries land expansion yes the Chinese have always viewed Empire as an oval and activity they don't fight overseas and their few attempts to invade other countries by sea Google accounts famous invasion of Japan came to a tragic and unpleasant end which one suspects the emperor in the early 15th century did not wish to revisit so the Chinese elected not to conquer the globe leaving the door open for Western Mariners to write themselves into history in fact the treasure fleet was already sailing on borrowed time from Sri Lanka the treasure fleet would have headed north along the western side of India as far as callicut a trading hub for southern Asia in the 15th century but Rex and his team are aiming for a more distant final destination Oman on the far side of the Indian Ocean [Music] the first step is the short four-day hop to the Maldives 1,200 islands with a land mass of 300 square kilometers scattered over 90,000 square kilometers of ocean the main danger in these waters is of running aground without electronic depth Sounders Jeng hers commanders must have been on their toes to pick their way through the shallow reefs the Maldives give the impression that life hasn't changed a great deal since the treasure fleet called most of the population of around 300,000 subsist on fishing collecting coconuts and growing cassava sweet potatoes and yams after three days of relaxation the crew were ready for the final leg of their journey there'll be no land in sight for the next 14 days [Music] Judy's ambitious reign had stretched the Empire's resources and in 1422 he was forced to suspend the treasure fleet voyages two years later aged 64 China's most outward-looking Emperor dies his conservative minded son succeeds him but has no interest in grand projects such as the treasure fleet his sudden death however hands power to emperor zhu zhang jie who'd been heavily influenced by his grandfather's UD there will be another voyage launched in 1432 sheng her is sent on a seventh glorious expedition but he does not return aged 62 having sailed over 50,000 kilometers to more than 30 countries china's heroic admiral dies at sea only his shoes and a braid of hair a return to Nanjing for burial a tomb remains in Nanjing today and is still visited by descendants of sheng hers adopted nephew in 1435 Jiujiang ji also dies and with him the last support for the treasure fleet the conservative elements of the Chinese administration are able to complete a dramatic u-turn in foreign policy China they said had everything she needed at home with no need for foreign influence or expensive luxuries such as the treasure fleet Jonah's voyages were extremely expensive apart from giving out all the valuable treasures and each voyage costs a huge amount of money from the treasure so support from Emperor was no longer there so Jung her as the Oatman i think his death naturally brought the end to this very important maritime history of China in 1477 the official written records of the fleet's exploits were deliberately destroyed about 60 years after junkers death another new emperor came in and he was actually thinking of restart this ocean trade or have another kind of a very new policy in place but some caught officials really against it so it is because that kind of rejection to the idea I think they managed to hide or to destroy the records by 1500 to curb any growth in private trade it had become illegal to construct a boat with more than two masts tribute gifts dried up trade suffered and Pirates prospered China's reign of naval supremacy was over her doors would remain closed to the world for the next five centuries with a fair wind behind them Rex and his crew finally reached the port of do far in Oman [Music] probably visited just once by the treasure fleet it was known for producing aromatic gums including one of the world's most treasured fragrant resins frankincense still harvested here today [Music] [Music] the precious dragons 14,000 kilometer journey is complete rex has fulfilled his ambition and has brought the story of the treasure fleet to life once again it's a reminder of China's nautical past that comes at an interesting stage in her more recent maritime history [Music] in the 21st century China finds herself in an era of unprecedented change while the motivations and methods are very different to those of the 15th century China's international trade is once again dependent on a relationship with the sea much of the world's container shipping now comes from China and her enormous manpower is producing goods as fast as the world can consume them in the last 20 years China has become the world's major exporter of manufactured goods it necessarily has a huge interest in ocean-going trade and trading vessels has become a major supplier of vessels so China's relationship with the ocean has changed of necessity not choice China didn't go to sea for fun China went see to make money like all great maritime powers not only is her economic growth unrivaled but her people and influence have also spread around the globe China no longer waits for the world to come to her at the moment it's a new age of China and if you go to Africa if you go saw Stasia you find the Chinese are there so you can see a new treasure fleet from China is around word maybe not bring a real sense fleet but the influence China influence is there of course we can see it's also motivated by mainly treed so it is in a way owed policy revived China has always been a superpower now the world is watching to see how this will be expressed next one thing is certain in Jenga China produced one of the most accomplished naval commanders the world has ever seen a hero whose legend will endure to inspire future generations of a nation once again set to take the world by storm Gingka was an outstandingly effective expedition leader he was given a mission he stuck to his orders and he brought his ships back Juncker is Greeks Explorer not just a ocean Explorer he's also explorer of humanity [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 561,303

Rating: 4.6249008 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary Movies - Topic, stories, 2017 documentary, Documentary, documentary history, Documentaries, history documentary, Full length Documentaries, TV Shows - Topic, History, Full Documentary, Channel 4 documentary, BBC documentary, real

Id: h4YEADagu0o

Length: 48min 3sec (2883 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 01 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/phatsackocrap]

I'm a big fan of these Timeline docs. Their whole channel on YouTube is awesome.

[u/stemid85]

This is just what I wanted to see. I read the book The years of rice and salt by Kim Stanley Robinson last year and ever since I've been wondering about those treasure ships mentioned in the book.

[u/thatoneguy564]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-chinese-female-pirate-who-commanded-80000-outlaws

Ching Shih unified her enormous fleet of pirates using a code of laws. The code was strict, and stated that any pirate giving his own orders or disobeying those of a superior was to be beheaded on the spot. The code was particularly unusual in its laws regarding female captives. If a pirate raped a female captive, he would be put to death. If the sex between the two was consensual, both would be put to death.

Geez

[u/Dalekemperor756]

Pish posh Britannia rules the waves

[u/Nerzry]

Is this original content or what? I've never been sure of this channel

[u/MrGlibb]

In olden days China and Britain understood one simple fact that remains true throughout time- whoever rules the seas rules the world. It was once a policy of the British army to maintain a navy twice as large as their two biggest competitors combined, no matter the cost, because superiority on the seas is the key to both trade and war.

[u/sennais1]

I'll give it a try, I read Gavin Menzies book about Australia being temporarily settled by the Chinese fleets in the 15th century but it was so speculative, messy and debunked by Chinese scholars and historians it seems there is a boom on "what if-ism".

[u/kuppajava]

Is there a list somewhere where you can see what the titles of "timeline" videos actually correspond to with the tv-show and movie titles?

[u/sizl]

There is another program similar to this called “when China ruled the seas”.

My favorite part was when they visited Africa where some descendants of Chinese sailors settled and married African women. The descendants were very obvious part asian and continued to passed down oral history of the Treasure fleet to their children.