1421 by Gavin Menzies - A Title, an Author, and a Boaty Read!

Sgeir

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The thrust of 1421 - the year China discovered the world, by Gavin Menzies, is that the great Chinese fleets of Zheng He not only sailed west of the Cape of Good Hope, but also to North America, Greenland, and most other parts of the maritime world between the Poles. In support of his theory he offers his experience as a retired RN submarine captain, studies of ocean currents and trade winds, as well as archaeological and DNA evidence. He also believes that Magellan had a map (with info from the Chinese) showing a passage at the tip of South America, and that the Portuguese settled in the Caribbean before the arrival of Columbus.

It's a great read, and some of it is very convincing - but it is circumstantial and not conclusive. Also a feeling that he's trying to make the evidence fit the theory, for example, I noticed a contradiction in his differing statements concerning sea levels and temperatures. That aside, I enjoyed it and will be fascinated to see whether any of his theories can be tested and reliably proven.

Not surprisingly the book has its detractors eg 1421: The Year the Chinese DID NOT Discover America. Again not surprisingly. some of his detractors are at odds with each other over interpretation of archaeological evidence.
 

jimi

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There is in fact very real evidence that the Ancient Greeks not only "discovered" Iceland, the Baltic & Greenland. A reading of Plutarch certainly is capable of the interpretaion that they had visited America as well. The Chinese fleet seems remarkable not for where they visited but for its scale.
 

Mirelle

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I don't believe a word of it. That would not signify, save that I work for a Chinese shipping company, who would be delighted if it were true, yet none of my colleagues believe it either.

Mogadishu - yes. Zanzibar - quite possibly. But no further.

Incidentally, dimensions and numbers in old Chinese texts are very suspect. For one thing, the Chinese count ...

1,00,00,00

where we count 1,000,000

It is extremely easy, even in the present day, to misplace a decimal point and multiply everything by ten.

Archaelogy carried out in the days of Mao is also very suspect - remember that twenty million people died because no-one wanted to tell him that Lysenkoist biology was nonsense, and photographs were faked accordingly.
 

Sgeir

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Thanks Jimi for an interesting read. Hadn't previously read about the Bristol fisherman who kept quiet in case their competitors found the fish. Notice he didn't bother with the Sinclair (St Clair) Earl of Orkney theories - pretty well discredited.

I wonder whether the Welsh Assembly should ask for reparations?
 
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