[blam]

"As far as the history present on Zheng He that I have seen, the date of the map doesn't leave enough time for him to have travelled that great a distance and still have completed those other journeys which, like you said are well documented."

It's my understanding that he had a massive fleet, almost a city. He may have made landfall, established a 'camp site' and sent other ships out in many different directions at the same time. (?)

[pganini]

The recorded history (from both China and other cultures) shows that he has reached as far as Africa. There are some evidence that he reached the Americas, but it's not 100% proven because there is no corresponding American historians at the time (Indonesians, INdians, etc. all have historical records of his visit). In fact, he went so far as to put down a rebellion in Indonesia, took the person responsible back to China as a prisoner where the emperor had him executed for the rebellion.