[Fyron]

The Chinese apparently had some of the best naval technology available at the time,

Actually, it was by far the very best, but it was a century or two earlier than this time frame. But, due to an increasingly inward-looking court (China was quite possibly the most powerful empire in history at that time), they allowed their huge navy of massive ships (which dwarfed anything made by Europeans for centuries to come) to essentially rot away. They voluntarily gave up their chance to remain the dominant naval power in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean regions. By the 15th century, China had almost no navy to speak of.

[ July 06, 2004, 07:02: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]