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The Chinese-Muslim explorer, Zheng He, began his first of seven voyages in 1405. He had large, almost luxurious, ships and sailed more-so of spreading the thought of respect for his country, rather than sailing to explore and claim land.
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Prince Henry "the Navigator" founded the first of many navigation schools to aid Portugal in its exploration. He was a patron of sailing and all things exploration, so as a way to express this and help out his nation, he created many schools.
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Following Zheng He's seventh and final voyage, China's Ming Dynasty accepted an isolationist policy. The country was set back for a bit because while it stayed put in isolation, the rest of the eastern world continued to advance.
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An Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, mistakenly and unknowingly sailed to Hispanola, in the New World. This ultimately ended up being one of the greatest and most important discoveries in all of western world history. Back then though, he thought he had reached the West Indies.
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Spain and Portugal agreed on the borders of Spanish and Portuguese land in South America (part of the New World). Spain had originally claimed the entire thing, but Portugal decided that that much land was unfair and too big of a reward, so the nation came up with two treaties, finally agreeing on the second one.
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The Portguese explorer Vasco da Gama finally reached Calicut, a port off of India. There he found plenty of riches; silks, spices, gems, and more. This was wonderful for Portugal for two reasons: They had access to these goods, and more importantly they had found a direct sea route to India.
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In the hopes to finish what his ally Toyotomi Hideyoshi began, Tokugawa Ieyasu successfully unified Japan and was then awarded the title of shogun. This meant that he was the ''sole rule" of Japan. He moved the capitol to a small town called Edo (later known as Tokyo). Ieyasu also enforced the rule that law overruled the sword, a valuable lesson.
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The Manchus people of Manchuria invaded China. There they set up their own dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, giving it a Chinese name. They took over Beijing and replaced the supreme power with their own emperor. The Qing Dynasty ruled for almost 300 years and greatly expanded China's territory.
