In 1405 China launched the largest and most luxurious naval fleet in premodern history. It was also the largest wooden fleet of all time. The largest boats dwarfed all wooden ships produced in the rest of the world, including those of the Spanish and Portuguese. Following pre-established trading routes they travelled to India and the eastern coast of Africa. There is also evidence they reached the west coast of America before Columbus. The fleets participated in trade and propaganda, impressing and intimidating the cities they visited, and exchanging luxurious gifts. The rest of world history would have been altered if the next ruler hadn’t ordered the fleet destroyed. This is an imagined view of the fleet arriving in Mogadishu, the busiest port on the Swahili coast.