From 1524-1525, then again from 1526-1528, he sailed with Almagro and a priest, Hernando de Luque, on voyages of discovery and conquest down the west coast of South America.
After a period of maritime explorations (see Zheng He) in the early 15th century, the Ming Dynasty started shutting the Middle Kingdom out of the rest of the world. This of course continued with the Qing, and the empire remained largely isolated until the 19th century, because of foreign "initiative."
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