Something I didn't know I didn't know #1

(And I say "#1" only because I just started counting. :-)

So my first big "gulp" and "Wow, I did not know that" while reading Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World came in chapter three when I learned about the ships in Imperial China's fleets in the early 1400s.

Beginning in 1405, Zheng He led a number of naval expeditions with ships as long as 400 feet, easily dwarfing European ships of the day. Compared to Columbus' expedition to the Americas roughly 85 years later, Zheng He had up to 100 times more ships under his command... and as many as 28,000 sailors compared to Columbus' 90.

More from UCLA and NOVA, including an animation from the latter.