1360-1424

Chinese Ming Dynasty emperor who sent Admiral Cheng Ho (c. 1371- c. 1433) on a series of naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, India, Persia, Arabia, and even Africa. Also known as Chu Ti (Yung-lo was his reign title), the emperor in 1405 commissioned what would turn out to be six voyages during his lifetime. Though the purpose of these expeditions was to display Chinese power, they also yielded some exchanges, including the delivery of an African giraffe to Yung-lo's court. In 1421, Yung-lo moved the imperial court from Nanjing to Beijing, where China's government has remained ever since. At Beijing, he built the "Forbidden City," a palace some 5 mi (8 km) in circumference, containing approximately 2,000 rooms in which more than 10,000 servants attended the imperial family.