Also, his patron, the Yongle Emperor, died. And the emperor's successors weren't as interested in maritime trade. They were more concerned with protecting China against its traditional enemies, nomads from the steppe. To do this, they built a rather famous wall. The Great Wall was mostly built under the Ming Dynasty using resources that they only had because they stopped building gigantic ships. And just imagine what might have happened if the Ming emperors had embraced a different strategy, one that was based on outreach instead of isolationism. And now, to the blue corner representing Portuguese exploration, we have Vasco da Gama.