摘要
十五世紀到十七世紀時代，歐洲船隊在世界各地尋找可開發地區資源與新線航路的時期，探尋新的商業貿易路線和夥伴，以期發展歐洲新生的資本主義。大航海時代在遠洋航海探索中，西方歐洲人發現了許多當時在歐洲國家不為人知的國家陸地與島嶼地區。各國君主想藉找尋新世界去擴張佔有領土，航向未知海洋展開冒險旅程。伴隨著新航路線的開闢，東西方之間的文化交流宗教傳播、商業貿易開始大量增加，殖民主義與自由貿易主義也開始出現。歐洲這個時期的快速發展奠定了其超過亞洲繁榮的基礎。對世界各大洲在數百年後的發展產生了久遠的影響。鄭和下西洋主要目的是宣揚國威，另說還有一個目的是尋找明代建文帝的行蹤。明史．鄭和傳載：「成祖疑惠帝亡海外，欲蹤跡之，且欲耀兵異域，示中國富強。」為人類歷史上的大航海時代早近百年，規模最大、歷時最久二十八年的西洋探索航海行動，且航程最遠，航海史上技術設備提升，由此打開海上絲路的壯舉。
並列摘要
TheAge of Discovery(c. 1418- c. 1620), also known as theAge of Exploration, was part of theearly modern periodand largely overlapped with theAge of Sail. It was a period from approximately the late 15th century to the 17th century, during which sea farers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form theworld-systemand laid the groundwork forglobalization. The era saw widespreadenslavement, exploitation and military conquest ofnative populations, concurrent with the growing economic influence and spread ofwestern and European culture, science and technology leading to afaster-than-exponential population growthworld-wide. In the 15th century (1405-1433) when zheng he began his trip, there emerged a period of strategic opportunities in world history, which were brought about by the great discovery. in yongle and xuande year of Ming dynasty, the sea route traffic developed rapidly after zheng he」 s seafaring, and it promoted the development of our country「s porcelain production. the scale of zheng hes navigation far exceeds that of Columbias 「 great discovery」 which followed, this big ship here was the one sailed in by zheng he in the early 15th century on his great voyages around the south China sea, the east China sea and across the Indian ocean to east Africa.