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Emperor Yonglo, a leader during the Ming dyansty in China, has a great curiousity about the outside world. He had admiral Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim eunuch, go on a series of 7 voyages to 16 different nations to show China's greatness.
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Prince Henry of Portugal used his wealth and position to oragnize voyages along the western African coast. It is said that he also founded navigation schools for people to perfect their trade, but this cannot be comfirmed.
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Although Zheng He's voyages were successfull in increasing China's great image, some complained that they were vasting valuable resources. China began to focus on instead protecting its borders (mainly to the North) and restricting trade.
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Christopher Columbus, a daring Italian explorer, convinced the Spanish King and Queen to finance a plan to find a sea route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic. Christopher Columbus didn't find Asia, but the Americas.
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Pope Alexander VI suggeested the Line of Demarcation to split Spanish and Portuguese land. The Portuguese complained that the line gave too much territory to Spain, so an updated one was drawn up. The two nations then signed a treaty to honor this (new) line.
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Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer who explored the African east coast and later found a trading route to India.
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After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's reign, Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of Japan and completed the unification of the nation. He also started the Tokugawa Shogunate, a dynasty of shoguns that ruled unified Japan.
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The Manchus people of Manchuria (a region to the north of China) invaded China and took control. They were the largest, longest, and last dyansty ruled by foreigners.
