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Zheng He was a Chinese Muslim Admiral who led his voyages under Yonglo, an emperor who was very curious about the outside world. Zheng He had huge expeditions. He had approximatley 300 ships for his voyages with a crew size of over 27,000 people. Zheng He's missions were to make sure everybody knew of China's superiority.
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Prince Henry "the Navigator" was a key figure for the Portugese in navigation. He founded many navigation schools which put maps together and taught sailors more tactics in sailing. This gave Portugese sailors advantages against other sailors. Prince Henry's key incentive was for converting others to Christians.
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The Chinese withdrew into isolation because they already had all the supplies and had nothing to get from the outside world.
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Spain was jealous of Portugal's trading empire, so they sent Columbus to Asia. Columbus decided to take a different route to Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but landed in Hispaniola (in the Americas) instead.
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To keep Spain and Portugal from fighting, Pope Alexander VI suggested drawing an imaginary line through the Atlantic Ocean. One half would be Spain's part, and the other half would be Portugal's part.
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When Vasco de Gama started exploring the east african coast, he found Calicut, India. He filled his ships with all the goods and spices and headed back to Portugal.
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Ieyasu finished uniting Japan, and his victories of war helped him become shogun.
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When the Manchus invaded China, the Ming dynasty collapsed. Kangxi, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty, was successful because he adopted many traditional Confucian beliefs.
