After Zheng He had done his expeditions to Africa, was there any sentiment among the Ming to establish Chinese presence in Africa?

by PM_ME_YOUR_AEROPRESS
Julius_Maximus

Nope.

You have to understand the nature of Zheng He's expeditions. First off, these expeditions were hugely costly. Secondly, the role was to establish Ming as the supreme overlord of all polities within Ming's sphere of influence. Zhu Di was also paranoid that his reign would be seen as illegitimate, and since it was rumoured that Emperor Jianwen was still out there overseas, he wanted to use the expeditions as a way to show off strength. This could be seen by the fact that most of the diplomatic missions Zheng He engaged in were of natures of gift giving and gift receiving.

After Zhu Di died, the following Emperors no longer had that kind of thinking. In a world where China was the center, and all non-Chinese lands were believed to be barbaric, there was little motivation to "expand". Establish vassalage? Sure. But actually taking hold of things? It was not seen as useful.