Sea Devil
Well-Known Member
Apparently it was the Chinese in 1411 - long before anybody else. Quite a big fleet of ships they went to Ireland, America N & S into the Pacific via Asia and the Straights of Magellan.
A fleet of some 80 boats and some brilliant celestial navigation methods. Markers of their visit to the East Coast USA long before Columbus or any of the others got there are still around. In fact the chart that Columbus used was taken from the Chinese world chart... Not a lot of people know that!
Michael
PS. The admiral of this fleet was one 'Zheng' - so there is little doubt he was the first true circumnavigator and all our basic world charts are in some small way derived from his work - interesting huh?
A fleet of some 80 boats and some brilliant celestial navigation methods. Markers of their visit to the East Coast USA long before Columbus or any of the others got there are still around. In fact the chart that Columbus used was taken from the Chinese world chart... Not a lot of people know that!
Michael
PS. The admiral of this fleet was one 'Zheng' - so there is little doubt he was the first true circumnavigator and all our basic world charts are in some small way derived from his work - interesting huh?