The imperial court of China in the early Ming enjoyed an unprecedented range of contacts with other courts of Asia (the Timurids in Iran and Central Asia, the Ashikaga in Japan, Joseon Korea) but also with Bengal, with Sri Lanka, with Africa, and even with the heart of the Islamic world in Mecca. By researching early Ming China's courts, their cultural, military and religious activities, and foreign interaction, the project presented a new history of this period. At the same time, the project sought to stress diversity within the Ming Empire itself, and the idea that it is multiple courts, and not one single, monolithic, imperial court, which are important in this period. Here, the recent spectacular gains of archaeology, in revealing the culture of the regional princely courts of the early Ming, enables art and material culture to significantly alter our view of the period.