Zheng He (1371-1433)

Zheng helped transform China into the superpower of his time.He led a fleet of 30,000 men on board 300 ships to the American continent in the 15th century to expand China's influence during the Ming dynasty. Zheng drew up maps later used by Columbus to reach America in 1492 while searching for a new route to India.
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan also sailed with the help of Chinese-drawn maps in the 16th century. He was a Muslim eunuch who served as a close confidant of the Yongle Emperor of China (reigned 1403–1424), the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Originally named Ma Sanbao (馬 三保), he came from Yunnan province. He belonged to the Semur or Semu caste who practiced Islam. He was the sixth generation descendant of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a famous Yuan governor of the Yunnan Province from Bukhara in modern day Uzbekistan. His family name "Ma" came from Shams al-Din's fifth son Masuh. Both his father Mir Tekin and grandfather Charameddin had travelled on pilgrimage to Mecca, and no doubt he heard them recounting tales of travels to far away lands. After the Ming army conquered Yunnan, he was taken captive, and castrated, thus becoming a eunuch. The name Zheng He was given by the emperor. He studied at Nanjing Taixue (The Imperial Central College). His missions showed impressive demonstrations of organizational capability and technological might, but did not lead to significant trade