National Geographic exhibit features China’s ‘Forgotten Fleet’

Perhaps the greatest series of exploratory voyages in maritime history began six centuries ago — decades before Christopher Columbus was born — when China’s Ming government sent an armada of 300 ships carrying 27,000 crewmen across the Indian Ocean under the command of a eunuch. (Verily, history is stranger than fiction.)

An intricately crafted 10-foot scale replica of Zheng He’s baochuan — the football-field sized, nine-masted treasure ships that dwarfed any other wooden vessels ever built — is one of the highlights of “China’s Forgotten Fleet: Voyages of Zheng He,” on view at National Geographic through Sept. 7. You’ll also find recreations of the maps the admiral made during his seven voyages spanning more than 30 years, documenting his travels to East Africa, India Malabar Coast, Sri Lanka, Malacca and the Arabian Peninsula.