Zheng He’s Giraffe
Tales of monsters from the depths of the oceans, of giant creatures devouring ships whole, mermaids, many-headed leviathans and the horrors of the sea are common folklore across cultures, histories, and the literature of myth. Rarely proven true or debunked in favor of naturally occurring phenomenon and the humors of the ocean, such creatures have long held a place in our littoral imaginations that have sustained for thousands of years. But when the fantastic becomes the real, when the truly incredible manifests itself, we assign these moments on the crashing waves of history a special significance.
Chinese explorer Zheng He’s delivery of an African giraffe to the court of Nanjing in 1414 is one such astonishing moment. The giraffe had been acquired in Bengal from Saifu’d-Din, by the ruler of Malindi, where in turn it had likely been imported from the Kenyan coast and was probably one of the most traveled animals in the world in the early 15th century. Sheriff provides a colorful commentary on what the arrival of the giraffe must have been like for the Chinese nobles, describing how ‘the emperor's philosophers identified it as the fabled k'i-lin or unicorn, an animal associated with an age of exceptional peace and prosperity. It was taken as a sign of Heaven's favor and proof of the virtue of the emperor’. And far from the connection of the fear of foreign animals, monsters, and the terrors of the sea, was embraced as ‘the emblem of Perfect Virtue, Perfect Government, and Perfect Harmony in the Empire and in the Universe' for the Chinese in the Far East.’
When we think of the vast, diverse, and vibrant trade routes of the Indian Ocean in the 15th century, it’s easy to assume that these were often merchants doing ordinary things such as making pedestrian trips up and down the coast to trade spices, rice, or millet. But they were also performing remarkable feats such as successfully transporting a live giraffe over 6,000 miles from Southern India to Central Eastern China (the giraffe itself had traveled over 13,000 miles in total from its original point of departure in Kenya), and the logistical complexity of being able to do so must have been immense. It’s unfathomable how extraordinary it must have been to see such an animal from another continent for the first time.
But rather than be fearful of the unknown, it’s fascinating how the ruling class positioned the giraffe not as an African curiosity, but as a mythical personification of virtue, and divine sign of favor towards the emperor himself. That Heaven had seen fit to bless the emperor with such an incredible divine sign of perfection, serving to reinforce the exceptional harmony (whether real or imagined) for the Chinese people. Essentially Zheng He’s giraffe becomes politicized upon arrival in Nanjing and aligned with the means and communication of divine societal power. The uncanny discoveries of maritime adventure put to work in service of the political efforts back home.
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