An epidemic, locusts, and drought kills Zhu Yuanzhang's family, leaving only himself, his sister-in-law and her young son as the sole survivors[2]
October
Zhu Yuanzhang enters a local Buddhist monastery as a novice to do menial work; eventually he's sent out to beg for food - it's speculated that he ends up joining the army[2]
1347
Zhu Yuanzhang returns to the Buddhist monastery[3]
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhu Yuanzhang receives an independent command from Guo Zixing and captures Chuzhou[4]
1355
11 July
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhu Yuanzhang crosses the Changjiang[5]
Red Turban Rebellion: Guo Zixing dies and his eldest son succeeds him, but he also dies, making Zhu Yuanzhang leader of the rebels[6]
1356
10 April
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhu Yuanzhang takes Nanjing[7]
1357
summer
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhang Shide is captured by Zhu Yuanzhang and starves to death[8]
1358
Red Turban Rebellion: Defending garrisons fire cannons en masse at the siege of Shaoxing and defeat Zhu Yuanzhang's forces[9]
1360s
Year
Date
Event
1360
Red Turban Rebellion: Chen Youliang murders Xu Shouhui and proclaims the Great Han at Wuchang before attacking Zhu Yuanzhang at Nanjing only to be repulsed[10]
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhu Yuanzhang takes Suzhou and Zhang Shicheng hangs himself;[15] 2,400 large and small cannons are deployed by the Ming army at the siege of Suzhou.[9]
November
Red Turban Rebellion: Zhu Liangzi takes Wenzhou[14]
Jingnan Campaign: Zhu Di is stopped at the Changjiang across from Nanjing[76]
3 July
Jingnan Campaign: Assistant chief commissioner Chen Xuan defects to Zhu Di and rebel forces cross the Changjiang[76]
13 July
Jingnan Campaign: Zhu Hui opens the Jinchuan Gate of Nanjing to lets Zhu Di in without a fight; the Jianwen Emperor disappears and his family is incarcerated[77]
10,000 households from Shanxi are relocated to Beijing[79]
1405
11 July
Treasure voyages: Zheng He and 27,800 men depart from Nanjing on 255 ships, of which 62 are treasure ships, "bearing imperial letters to the countries of the Western Ocean and with gifts to their kings of gold brocade, patterned silks, and colored silk gauze, according to their status."[88]
Construction of new palace buildings in Beijing begins[79]
Ming–Hồ War: Ming forces capture Đa Bang and Thăng Long[86]
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet visits Malacca and Java before heading up the Straits of Malacca to Aru, Samudera Pasai Sultanate, and Lambri, where the people are described as "very honest and genuine," and from there 3 days to the Andaman Islands, and then 8 more days to the west coast of Ceylon where the king reacts with hostility. The fleet departs for Calicut, which is described as "the Great country of the Western Ocean"[89]
1407
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet defeats Chen Zuyi's pirate fleet at Palembang and installs Shi Jinqing as "grand chieftain ruling over the native people of that place"[90]
13 March
Ming–Đại Ngu (Hồ dynasty) War: Hồ Quý Ly's counteroffensive against Ming forces fails[86]
Treasure voyages: Chinese Treasure fleet arrives back at Nanjing[92]
5 October
Treasure voyages: Wang Hao is ordered to refit 249 "sea transport ships" in "preparation for embassies to the countries of the Western Ocean"[93]
23 October
Treasure voyages: The Yongle Emperor issues orders for the second voyage and to confer formal investiture on the king of Calicut[94]
Treasure voyages: The Yongle Emperor summons Javanese envoys to demand restitution for killing 710 Chinese and settles for 10,000 ounces of gold[95]
30 October
Treasure voyages: A eunuch Grand Director departs with an imperial letter for the king of Champa[94]
Treasure voyages: Zheng He departs with a fleet of 249 ships and takes a route similar to the first voyage with the addition of stops at Jiayile, Abobadan, Ganbali, Quilon, and Cochin[96]
Ironwood wadding is added to Ming cannons, increasing their effectiveness.[98]
1408
14 February
Treasure voyages: Orders for the construction of 48 treasure ships are issued from the Ministry of Works in Nanjing[99]
5 July
Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam: Ming troops seize 13,600,000 tons of rice; 235,900 cattles and livestock and vast amounts of materials in Vietnam[100]
Treasure voyages:The Yongle Emperor issues orders for the fourth voyage[108]
Shells are used as ammunition in the Ming dynasty.[109]
1413
autumn
Treasure voyages: Zheng He departs from Nanjingand takes the usual route with the addition of four new destinations: the Maldives, Bitra, Chetlat Island, and Hormuz, which is given the following description: "Foreign ships from every place, together with foreign merchants traveling by land, all come to this territory in order to gather together and buy and sell, and therefore the people of this country are all rich"[110]
Second Mongol Campaign: Ming forces engage Oirats at the Tuul River, suffering heavy casualties, but ultimately prevail through the use of heavy cannon bombardments[113]
Treasure voyages: Zheng He departs China taking the previous route to Hormuz, and then Aden, Mogadishu, Barawa, Zhubu, and Malindi[119]
1419
8 August
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet returns to China
20 September
Treasure voyages: Ambassadors present exotic animals to the Ming court including a giraffe imported from Somalia by Bengalis[120]
2 October
Treasure voyages: Orders are issued for the construction of 41 Treasure ships[99]
During the Lantern Festival, the Ming imperial palace puts on a display of pyrotechnics involving rockets running along wires which light up lanterns, illuminating the palace.[121]
Beijing officially becomes the capital of the Ming dynasty[122]
1421
3 March
Treasure voyages: Orders are issued for the sixth voyage and envoys from 16 countries including Hormuz are given gifts of paper and coin money, and ceremonial robes and linings[123]
14 May
Treasure voyages: The Yongle Emperor orders the suspension of the Treasure voyages[124]
10 November
Treasure voyages: Orders are issued to Zheng He to provide Hong Bao and envoys from 16 countries passage back to their countries; the Treasure fleet takes its usual route to Ceylon where it splits up and heads for the Maldives, Hormuz, and the Arabian states of Djofar, Lasa, and Aden, and the two African states of Mogadishu and Barawa; Zheng He visits Ganbali[125]
Fourth Mongol Campaign: The Yongle Emperor launches an offensive against Arughtai only to find out he had already been defeated by the Oirats[127]
1424
27 February
Treasure voyages: Zheng He is sent on a diplomatic mission to Palembang to confer "a gauze cap, a ceremonial robe with floral gold woven into gold patterns in the silk, and a silver seal" on Shi Jinqing's son Shi Jisun[128]
April
Fifth Mongol Campaign: The Yongle Emperor leads an expedition against the remnants of Arughtai's horde but fails to find them[127]
Uriankhai raid Ming borders and the Xuande Emperor personally leads troops to repel them[138]
1429
The Xuande Emperor conducts a major military review on the outskirts of Beijing[139]
Mounted infantry carrying hand cannons are employed by the Ming army.[140]
1430s
Year
Date
Event
1430
May
The Xuande Emperor orders a tax reduction on all imperial lands[141]
29 June
Treasure voyages: The Xuande Emperor issues orders for the seventh voyage[142]
1431
19 January
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet departs from Nanjing[143]
14 March
Treasure voyages: Liujiagang Inscription is erected[144]
12 June
Vietnamese emperor Lê Thái Tổ of the Lê dynasty offers a nominate tributary relation with Ming China and was titled King of Annam by the Ming emperor.[145]
December
Treasure voyages: The Changle Inscription is erected and the fleet departs from Changle[144]
Treasure voyages: Hong Bao and Ma Huan arrive in Calicut and send seven men to Mecca while Hong Bao visits Djofar, Lasa, Aden, Mogadishu, and Barawa before heading back to China[149]
9 March
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet departs from Hormuz and heads back to China[150]
June
Japanese missions to Ming China: Relations between Ming and Japan are renewed[151]
7 July
Treasure voyages: Treasure fleet arrives back in China[152]
Treasure voyages: Documents of the treasure voyages are removed from the archives of the Ministry of War and destroyed by Liu Daxia on the basis that they were "deceitful exaggerations of bizarre things far removed from the testimony of people's ears and eyes," and that "the expeditions of Sanbao to the Western Ocean wasted tens of myriads of money and grain, and moreover the people who met their deaths [on these expeditions] may be counted in the myriads. Although he returned with wonderful precious things, what benefit was it to the state? This was merely an action of bad government of which ministers should severely disapprove. Even if the old archives were still preserved they should be destroyed in order to suppress [a repetition of these things] at the root."[181]
1466
January
Ming forces defeat and capture Hou Dagou but the rebellion continues anyway[180]
Europe reaches parity with China in health, fertility rate, life expectancy, and human capital[194]
1494
1494 Yellow River flood: Yellow River floods but Liu Daxia successfully directs the river to flow south of Shandong, stabilizing the course of the Yellow River until the 19th century[195]
National military reforms switch to recruiting volunteers for local units[196]
1495
Ming forces briefly occupy Hami before reinforcements from Turpan force them to retreat[197]
1496
Japanese missions to Ming China: Japanese envoys kill several people on their return trip from Beijing[198]
1499
A trade embargo on Turpan forces them to return Hami to Uyghur control[197]
The Zhengde Emperor starts using eunuchs as military and fiscal intendants[203]
1506
May
The Ministry of Revenue is ordered to investigate the lack of revenue[203]
July
The Minister of Revenue, Han Wen, complains about the emperor's expenditures using the ministerial treasuries[204]
28 October
The Minister of Revenue petitions the emperor to execute all the eunuchs in his personal employ, but the emperor refuses, and as a result all the grand secretaries resign[205]
The Zhengde Emperor takes to wandering the streets of Beijing in disguise[203]
Japanese missions to Ming China: Japanese envoys are apprehended and forbidden from trading upon reaching China[237]
The garrison at Liaodong rebels and is suppressed[238]
1540s
Year
Date
Event
1540
September
The Jiajing Emperor announces his intention to seclude himself for several years to pursue immortality; a court official says this is nonsense and gets tortured to death[239]
The Jiajing Emperor withdraws from his formal duties completely and spends the remainder of his life in the Palace of Everlasting Longevity obsessed with physical immortality through drugs, rituals, and esoteric physical regimens.[234]
1543
December
Construction on a new Imperial Ancestral Temple begins.[240]
Luso-Chinese agreement (1554): Leonel de Sousa bribes the vice-commissioner of maritime defense into letting the Portuguese stay at Macau for an annual payment of 500 taels and 20 percent imperial duty on half their products[253]
Wang Wanggao, a Ming naval officer, arrives at Luzon and returns with a Spanish embassy headed by Martín de Rada; the embassy fails due to the Spanish inability to capture Lin Feng, a Chinese pirate[274]
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98): Nurhaci offers to fight the Japanese but is refused; Ming reacts with alarm to the size and quality of Nurhaci's troops[290]
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98): Japanese forces withdraw from Korea[299]
Bozhou rebellion: The Miao rebellion is suppressed[295]
Mongols kill Li Rusong, the Ming commander-in-chief[300]
Ming cavalry experiments with firing a three-barreled matchlock before using it as a shield while they attack with a saber using their other hand.[301]
Cantonese officials give permission to the Spanish to trade in El Piñal[302]
1599
All major ports have senior eunuchs in residence[303]
17th century
1600s
Year
Date
Event
1600
January 17
The Portuguese in Macau attack the Spanish in Lampacau. The Spanish abandons El Piñal.[304]
The size of European book collections surpass that of China[305]
Sangley Rebellion: The Spanish, Japanese, and Filipinos massacre the Chinese population in Manila; the Wanli Emperor blames a eunuch for aggravating the Spanish by asking if they could mine in Cavite[306]
Nurhaci and Ming generals agree to delineate the boundary between their territories[291]
Chinese scholar Chen Di spends some time at the Bay of Tayouan (which Taiwan takes its name from) during a Ming dynasty anti-pirate mission and provides the first significant description of Taiwanese aborigines[307]
1604
Donglin movement: The Donglin Academy is founded[308]
1605
June
A thunderbolt knocks down the flagpole at the Altar of Heaven, which is very inauspicious, causing some officials to resign[309]
1606
Army officers in Yunnan riot and kill Yang Rong, a eunuch superintendent of mining[303]
The Yellow River bursts its dikes and flood Xuzhou[328]
1624
26 August
Sino-Dutch conflicts: Ming forces evict the Dutch from Penghu and they retreat to Taiwan, settling near the Bay of Tayouan next to a pirate village[327]
She-An Rebellion: Ming forces defeat rebels but are unable to decisively quell the rebellion[325]
Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Ming dockyards start construction of multidecked broadsidesailing ships capable of holding large cannons under the supervision of Zheng Zhilong; they get blown up by a Dutch surprise attack[341]
Li Zicheng takes Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor hangs himself[360]
27 May
Battle of Shanhai Pass: Wu Sangui lets the Qing forces through the Great Wall and their forces defeat Li Zicheng in battle, after which Li retreats to Beijing[361]
5 June
Qing dynasty takes Beijing and Li Zicheng flees[361]
Yishiha's voyages in the context of military and diplomatic activities in the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty. Yishiha's route is in blue, along with those of Zheng He (in black) and Chen Cheng (in green).
The flight of the Yongli Emperor—the last sovereign of the Southern Ming dynasty—from 1647 to 1661. The provincial and national boundaries are those of the People's Republic of China.
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