> the vision behind the mammoth enterprise is “a world of exchange, rather than a world of conflict.” An inconceivable world, by the standards of Western imperi

> the vision behind the mammoth enterprise is “a world of exchange, rather than a world of conflict.” An inconceivable world, by the standards of Western imperialism, which takes the stage a century later. I have a lot of skepticism about this story. For one, the whole idea of a man with no naval or ocean experience being put in change of shipbuilding for the largest navy ever assembled consisting of the biggest ships ever assembled. It makes no sense whatsoever But secondly, "western imperialists" of the time would have happily told you of how their fleets sailed the seas to create a "world of exchange". East india trading company? the spice islands? the whole idea was establishing trade networks. Turns out that is pretty brutal when it gets to extremes. More likely this is a game of chinese whispers stemming from what probably was a magnificent voyage of a rather more modest fleet consisting of rather more modest ships (eight masts, really?), similar to those understaken by roman traders to what they called golden cathay (the malaysian peninsula). You can read a more interesting comparison of accounts here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_treasure_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_treasure_ship Something like the seafaring tradition and expertise to create even a tiny fraction of what is claimed here simply cannot be removed from history as thoughroughly as people are claiming it to have been