Ming

Zhu Yuanzhang went from cowherd boy and novice monk to founding emperor. The Ming ruled first from Nanjing, then from Beijing. Zheng He sailed seven times to the Western Ocean, his great fleet reaching the east coast of Africa nearly a century before Columbus.

The dynasty repaired the Great Wall, raised the Forbidden City, and compiled the Yongle Encyclopedia. Yu Qian defended Beijing, Qi Jiguang fought the pirates, Zhang Juzheng pushed his reforms. Novels bloomed: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Journey to the West all took their lasting shape in Ming times.

Late in the dynasty, factional strife and natural disasters multiplied. In 1644 Li Zicheng took Beijing, the Chongzhen emperor died by his own hand, and the Ming fell.