1421 : The Year China Discovered America

1421 : The Year China Discovered America Gavin Menzies Date: 06 January, 2004   —   $11.17   —   Book product page Rating:

This is one of the more interesting non-political books I've read recently. Author Gavin Menzies makes the startling claim that Chinese ships sailed around the world in 1421 - 71 years before Columbus discovered America! In fact, Menzies has evidence that both Columbus and Magellan used copies of Chinese charts on their expeditions.

Menzies backs up this claim with documents from China, charts of the Americas and the Pacific that pre-date Columbus, written records of port visits, archeological evidence, human DNA evidence, and the spread of Chinese livestock and plants. In fact, Menzies tends to oversell his case, citing quite a bit of circumstantial evidence. I guess he's going with the theory that quantity of evidence beats quality (hey, it worked for Bush, right?).

Menzies' other problem is that the Chinese emperor at the time ordered all records and charts of foreign lands destroyed in a bout of isolationism. Fortunately for his credibility, Menzies does have some compelling physical evidence: a few maps and records that escaped destruction, shipwrecks, stonework, ironwork, and some smaller Chinese artifacts found around the world.

The theory of pre-Columbian circumnavigation isn't new. UFO buffs are familiar with the Piri Reis map and other maps of the world created before the voyages of Columbus and Magellan, and have offered explanations of extraterrestrial intervention. But rather than cite little green men as the cartographers, Menzies traced the maps back to a 1428 Portuguese map of the world of Chinese origin; a much more plausible, though no less startling alternative.

It's a fun and mind stretching read. The tale of Gavin Menzies' voyage of historical exploration is as well written as his tales of Emperor Zhu Di's admiral's voyages. Check out his web site for more info and updates on the evidence.