Fleet Admiral Zheng He, Ming Dynasty, China:
According to the very carefully—and convincingly—presented “1421” thesis of researcher, ex–Royal Navy submariner and history writer Gavin Menzies (Harper Collins publishers, © 2002) one of Fleet Admiral Zheng’s fleets [under the command of Captain Zhou Wen] reached the Americas in 1421 (beating Columbus by 71 years) and traversed the entire American East Coast (not just one Caribbean Island, as per Columbus); and one fleet [under the command of Captain Zhou Man] traversed the entire California Coast (1421–2) as part of its historic circumnavigating of the entire globe (1421–3), beating Ferdinand Magellan’s almost–circumnavigation by about 100 years). Magellan was a Portuguese maritime explorer in the service of the Spanish crown.
Zheng’s multi–decked Treasure Ships had nine masts, and were roughly ten times the size of European vessels of 60–80 years later. The largest Treasure Ships were 600 feet long—or twice the length of a football field—or 6/10 the length of the 20th century’s longest cruise ship, the super liner queen Mary. To put matters in–perspective, the entire 3–ship fleet of Columbus could have fit on the deck of just one of the 62 Treasure Ships in Zheng’s fleet, which pre–dated Columbus’s sojourn by half a century.
The collective voyages of Zheng are sometimes collectively referred to as “The Voyages of Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean” or “The Voyages of Zheng He to the Western Ocean.”
Zheng himself, perhaps the greatest explorer of all time, lived 1371–1433 CE.