1421: The Year China Discovered America

Rating:
Summary: Not sure that I believe it, but .......
Review: Gavin Menzies has an interesting slant on navigation and the voyages of discovery in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The important part for me is not whether you, the reader, believe the thesis that he is putting forward, but more whether you have assumptions and ideas yourself that are unquestioned and unquestionable. Is the fact that "in fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" engrained in your thoughts, so that nothing will shift it?

Did Columbus discover America? Menzies postulates that many of the 'discoveries' by European seamen were following routes and indeed charts where others had gone before. These documents were left by, or based upon, the great Chinese treasure fleets that set sail near Tianjin in early 1421. This was after the lavish celebrations that marked the inauguration of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the new capital of the Emperor.

The author draws upon his experiences as a mariner, even the commander of a submariner in the British Navy, in the third quarter of 20th century. It is certainly true that a periscope places a different perspective on land observed. He uses his experience to interpret islands from some early charts. These can sometimes be identified as several peaks on the same land mass, indicating that the initial observations took place from some distance away. There are good descriptions of the rudiments of astronavigation, and the importance of specific lines of latitude, some held dear merely because it is the latitude of Beijing.

If the Chinese fleets (for there were many ships) did circum-navigate the world in the period 1421 - 1423, some difficult questions can be answered. Why are there hens in both North and South America that bear a strong resemblance to Chinese hens? These livestock pre-dated the first western settlers. There are other unusual items found out of their geographical distribution; maize in Indonesia when it is indigenous to South America. However, not all of the questions are answered, and some hard questions using the author's hypothesis are answered by the `conventional' view.

Menzies notes where there is a need for further investigation to corroborate his central hypothesis. This includes asking the Governor of the Falkland Islands for help in discovering a monument stone that may have been erected , and the genetic finger-printing of peoples who may be descendents of some Chinese settlers left behind. There is a great deal of assumptions and calculations (current flow, speed through the water), and whilst any one individual part is no great quantum leap, taken together, the inferences drawn are very significant. At the end I am left thinking that it is an answer, but it is almost a BACKWARD answer, with the hypothesis having been raised, and the book as a justification for the hypothesis. Some with a wide knowledge of cartography have questioned the selectivity of the author, as maps and charts all support his central idea, but there exists other items that do not do this.

Be all that as it may; it is still worth daring to ask the question.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK ([e-mail])


Rating:
Summary: 1421?
Review: I found "1421" by Gavin Menzies to be just a fascinating read, well worth the purchase and time, and the hypothesis put forth in the book very novel and if true, very enlightening. Of course, the proof or not for the hypothesis, although there is quite a lot of evidence cited in the book (and at the related web-site, www.1421.tv ), remains to be seen. As with any theory the proof is in further examination and further exploration for supporting evidence. It will be interesting to see, for example, how the DNA evidence ultimately comes out. And the archeology of ancient wood wrecks probably has to develop just a bit more before it can identify definitively post-rot where the wreck came from.

But still, Gavin has done in many ways a service to American (and world) history by advocating that America was found in 1421 (-3?) by Chinese explorers from the Zheng He Treasure Fleets. He does so based mainly on maps that pre-date explorer journeys that should have in theory been the first discovery, something that does argue pretty well for "somebody" having been there ahead of Columbus, Magellen, et al. The jump from there to Chinese Treasure Fleets is a bit tenuous, complicated of course by China having gone through one of its cultural purges, not unique to the country, but I'm sure aggravating for Chinese historians. Could the data on the maps come from some other source? Is Gavin Menzies' jump to the conclusion that it must have been the Chinese on solid ground? That's a tough one. Obviously there is a lot of evidence arguing that a number of cultures came to America before Columbus. Aside from the pretty much accepted Vikings, there's also some conjecture that any number of further cultures came over earlier. For example:

Basques: See "The Basque History of the World" by Mark Kurlansky. This is a very well written, fascinating read, that spends some time putting forth the theory that the Basques went to North America, and kind of kept things "secret" to preserve essentially a trade advantage. This is the best written book in this review. It is perhaps a smaller jump to have the hypothesis that some of the early map details could have come from the Basques, who while secretive, may have let a map or two slip into Italian or Spanish hands.

And of course there are other books and other theories. Africans, Celts, Irish monks, Arab traders, etc., etc. There seems to at least be a theory for many ancient civilizations as to how they may have gotten to America. Could some of these have provided the information on the early maps? Perhaps.

But I do think that Gavin Menzies in his book does provide a lot of evidence that the Chinese in some form or other were in the Americas. Was it in 1421? That one is tough to conclude, although I am not saying Gavin Menzies is wrong in his hypothesis. Even though an amateur, his practical experience at sea is such that he may put together things that classically trained historians and archeologists, mostly land-based, might miss initially.

One book that is worthwhile reading for the discussion is "When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433" which explores much of the same territory as "1421", but is probably on less conjectural ground. The history here is more directly supportable. But still, there are gaps. It would be very nice if some of the Chinese scholars or others could find much more solid information on the ships in the Treasure Fleet. There remain a lot of questions. How were Wood ships constructed to be so large? How sea-worthy were they for long voyages? And so on.

In the end, I think "1421" is the better read, well worth the effort. I would suggest also wading through the footnotes, which while not quite up to classical historical text standards, at least do give some scope and context for the regular part of the book. I doubt very much that the Chinese/American early contact references will be entirely disproved. It does seem rather Euro-centric to conclude that the only post-land bridge discoverers of America came from there Is Gavin Menzies correct that among those were the Chinese in 1421? Read the book yourself and decide for yourself..

Rating:
Summary: 1421 is refreshing,but hits and misses in more ways than one
Review: Menzies should be credited for proving and bringing to the mainstream public evidence that the Chinese during the early 1400s were the best sailors of the day and traveled to faraway places like Africa,India,Austrialia,and America before Columbus set sail toward America, and Portugal or Spain began the Age of Exploration. He proved his case with amazing evidence like Chinese junks discovered in California and highlighting the frizzle feathered fowl chicken that is native to Asia but strangly enough found in South America.The Chinese DNA evidence left me less convinced because of the simple fact that the people of early America were in fact Asians who crossed the Bering Strait, so the DNA does not come as a shock, it is like comparing DNA of people from England with the early American colonist of New York. Menzies approach is also not original. Twenty years before Menzies wrote his book an African-American scholar,Ivan Van Sertima wrote a book called They Came Before Columbus:The African Presence in America....he presented the same format as Menzies,linguistic,cartographic,artistic,botantical,and recorded evidence from conquistadors....I could be wrong but it seems like Menzies might have read the book, but fails to put the book in his bibliography which gives the impression that Menzies ideas are radical. I must say Menzies briefly mentions Van Sertimas name on his 1421 website.Another BIG mistake Menzies makes is falling into the same trap as the ethnocentrist that are Pro- Columbus,he seems to believe the Chinese were original in reaching America before Columbus.Strong evidence supports the arrival of the Vikings,Egyptian/Phoenicians,and West Africans to America before both Columbus and the Chinese...Menzies mentions none of this.Menzies also gives the laymen reader the wrong interpretation of the Piri Reis map, Chinese could not have mapped the Piri Reis map during the 1400s because Antartica on the Piri Reis map was shown when it was not covered with ice.The only time Antartica was not covered with ice was 4000 B.C, the Chinese were far removed from advanced ocean navigation until around 1400 A.D....the source of this map is Alexandria Egypt(probably mapped by Egyptians) though found in Turkey, the lay person reading for intertainment does not know this, nor is he told that the southern tip of Africa was routed before both Bartolomeu Dias and the Chinese,the first group to round the Cape were the Egyptians and Phoenicians led by the Pharoah Necho.The book is good and I support it in that it does shed light on Chinese accomplishments that predate the European age of Exploration, but if the reader wants to be more informed on the subject read Alexander von Wuthenau Unexpected Faces in Early America(rare book)Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings by Charles Hapgood(best source on Piri Reis map) and They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima(basically 1421 before 1421)