1420
Aug 8
Age: 50y
| 1420 • Ghiyasu'd-Din Naqqah, an envoy of the embassy sent by the Timurid ruler of Persia, Mirza Shahrukh (r. 1404–1447), to the Ming Dynasty of China during the reign of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), records his sight and travel over a large floating pontoon bridge at Lanzhou (constructed earlier in 1372) as he crosses the Yellow River on this day. He writes that it was: "...composed of twenty three boats, of great excellence and strength attached together by a long chain of iron as thick as a man's thigh, and this was moored on each side to an iron post as thick as a man's waist extending a distance of ten cubits on the land and planted firmly in the ground, the boats being fastened to this chain by means of big hooks. There were placed big wooden planks over the boats so firmly and evenly that all the animals were made to pass over it without difficulty." |