The Year the Chinese Discovered America

This is a an article by Mike Duggan...I repost it here for your enjoyment. Credits and links are at the bottom.

1421 - The Year the Chinese Discovered America

"On the issue of how could a European cartographer construct a map and a globe showing the Pacific Ocean years before the first known European saw it, there is a very interesting book that came out in 2002. The book is called 1421, subtitled The Year the Chinese Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies, a retired Royal Navy submarine captain. His thesis is that in 1421 the Ming Emperor Zhu Di sent out a large fleet commanded by eunuch admirals and charged with sailing and charting the entire globe.

The part of this story that is well known is that a fleet sailed to the East coast of Africa, returning with among other things a giraffe. But Menzies's claim is that off the coast of Africa the fleet divided into smaller, but still large fleets that separately explored and charted: 1) the southern Indian Ocean and southern and western Australia, 2) a fleet that entered the South Atlantic and sailed up the west coast of Africa before dividing again into groups that explored and charted, 3) the north coast of South America, the Caribbean (where it was hit by a hurricane off the Bahamas), Florida, the eastern seaboard, sailing all the way up to and circumnavigating Greenland, and finally sailing the seas north of Siberia, and down through the Bering Strait, and 4) the east coast of South America and Patagonia, then through the straits of Magellan to the west coast of South America, where the fleet divided again, one part going 5) north along the west coast of the Americas at least up to and into San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento delta, and 6) another group heading west across the south Pacific all the way to eastern Australia. Further, while the fleets suffered extensive losses through storms and shipwrecks, at least one ship from each fleet made it back to China, where things then got very strange.

"Just after the fleets had departed China Beijing was hit by a strong electrical storm, and the Temple of Heaven was struck by lightning. There were many casualties in the resulting fire, including the Emperor's favorite concubine. But more significantly, the Confucian Mandarins, who had opposed Zhu Di's efforts to expand China's tribute system so widely, used this event to overmaster the now aged and demoralized emperor by claiming that Heaven was showing its displeasure at his actions, so that, when the fleets eventually began returning to China they were decommissioned and their logs and all records of their journeys destroyed. All records kept in Beijing were also destroyed, as were the shipyards capable of constructing more fleets. China then turned inward and isolationist.

"However, one or more maps and accounts of the voyages made it to the Ottoman Empire, and into the hands of at least one European who had converted to Islam and met, and possibly sailed for a time with one of the fleets. Eventually some Italians and the Portuguese (first) and later Spanish courts became aware of this information. This prompted Henry the Navigator to launch his voyages of exploration, which put the Portuguese around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, as well as into the Atlantic. It also prompted the Columbus brothers to seek and get the support of the Spanish crown to sail west, where they knew they would find land.

"Menzies provides a large amount of evidence to support his claim, some "circumstantial", some very tangible (e.g., wrecks of Chinese junks in Australia, Chinese artifacts found in a number of places, Aboriginal rock paintings in Australia of what can only be Chinese coming ashore, the same in Baja California, the presence of Asian domesticated foul in South America when the Europeans arrived, etc. Other odd historical facts that this theory addresses include the fact that Magellan told his crew, who didn't want to keep sailing south, that he KNEW there was a way through to another ocean because he HAD SEEN it on a map! This for the man who supposedly discovered the strait bearing his name. Also, when the Spanish first landed in the Caribbean they reported meeting people who were clearly not Indian, but more obviously Chinese and even Portuguese (probably survivors of wrecks blown off course in storms, or of voyages presumed lost).

Columbus could have used this to lend credence to his belief that he had actually got to some islands off the coast of Asia, which he maintained until his death, and for which he has always be castigated. Contrary to popular belief there were also records of horses in the Americas when Spanish arrived. Only the Chinese or earlier Portuguese visitors could have brought these. Some of the Indians the Spanish met apparently knew what horses were, and some of the paintings in Baja and elsewhere show men wearing Chinese style garments riding horses.

"Menzies claims he was greatly aided in his ability to track the fleets' courses due to the construction and handling characteristics of the ships themselves. The vessels were very seaworthy, much larger than anything that existed in Europe or the Middle East, and constructed of teak and mahogany, making them much more durable and resistant to worms and rot than ships constructed of oak or soft woods. However, the vessels could not sail well against the winds or currents. So the routes taken would have had to track with the major ocean currents and prevailing winds.

"If Menzies is correct, this is truly a case of truth being stranger than fiction. How different history would have been if China had not disowned and abandoned these discoveries for internal political and religious reasons. Its naval capabilities, wealth and general level of technological sophistication at the time far exceeded anything in Europe. The world was truly China's oyster had it wanted to take it."

Here are some URLs on this: www.1421.tv
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2WQU6TDJPN&isbn=0060537639&itm=1

The first URL is a link to Menzies's Web site. The second URL is a link to the book itself at Barnes and Noble. -Mike Duggan