[SunStar]

If the Chinese discovered North America, why did they leave?

[Fee]

Ming Dynasty was looking for new trading partners. Northern Asia was still under Mongolian/Tartar rule thus the traditional silk routes to Persia and Middle East was cut off. Their expeditions were expensive and the civilizations they met not sufficiently advanced for economical trade (East Africa, Maladascgar, South Africa). If they found North America, they would conclude the same about the natives that inhabit it. Amongst the Chinese historians, there have been rumors that there were expeditions that traveled up to the Bering Sea and followed the coastline from Alaska down to California coast. Without historical records and logs, hard to prove.