Zheng He or Bartholomew Dias, who made a greater contribution?

From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He, the great navigator of the Ming Dynasty, led a huge fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, visited more than 30 countries and regions in Asia and Africa, and reached as far as Malindi, Kenya, East Africa, and had a complete navigation chart, which was a feat in the history of world navigation. In 1487 (or 1486), Bartholomew Dias led three ships south along the west coast of Africa, encountered a storm on the way, and after more than ten days of fighting, they drifted to the east coast of Africa near the Gulf of Argoa (33 degrees south latitude, 22 degrees east longitude) in February 1487. This was the first time that Europeans had bypassed the southern tip of Africa to reach the east coast of Africa.

In 1488, Dias arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on his return voyage, and was called "Cape Tempest" because of the great difficulty of navigating the wind and waves. The King of Portugal thought that there was great hope for a trip to India, so he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. Dias's nautical charts and information played an important role in opening up a new route from Western Europe to India when da Gama later sailed to India.

He promoted the development of commerce and shipping in Europe and Asia, and at the same time began the bloody colonial plunder of the East by Western colonizers. Both of them have made great contributions to later generations, but I personally think that Zheng He's contributions are greater, whether in terms of technology, chronology, numbers and influence on later generations.

Bartholomew Dias opened up colonies in Africa, looting many diamonds and black slaves for European royalty, while Zheng He did not conquer anywhere, but instead sent gifts between Southeast Asia and the Arabian Sea in exchange for some worthless bananas.

That's why Europeans are so rich now, and China is so poor.

Peking University Press, Outline of Chinese History, pp. 528-529 In the 28 years from the third year of Yongle (1405) to the eighth year of Xuande (1433), Zheng He, an outstanding Chinese navigator, led a fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, and visited more than 30 countries in Asia and Africa.

Zheng He visited places such as Champa (present-day southern Vietnam) and Chenla (present-day Cambodia).Malin (present-day east coast of Africa) (Zheng He's nautical charts are hidden in Mao Yuanyi's Wubei Zhi).

In other words, Zheng He passed through two oceans, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

Half a century later, Western Europe opened up new shipping routes that shocked the world.

In 1487, when Bartholomewdias sailed along the west coast of Africa and encountered strong winds, he encountered the "Cape of Good Hope", which was later named by the Portuguese royal family, and thus began the opening of new routes to the east and west of Portugal and Spain.

The Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the great geographical discoveries of Western Europe opened up new shipping routes.

Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Magellan sailed around the world