1421: The Year China Discovered the World

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1421: The Year China Discovered the World
File:Menzies 1421.jpg
AuthorGavin Menzies
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistory
PublisherBantam Press
Publication date
2002-11-04
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages544
ISBN978-0593050781
OCLC50493895

1421: The Year China Discovered the World (US title: 1421: The Year China Discovered America) is a 2002 book written by retired submarine commander Gavin Menzies. The premise of the book is that, at the behest of the Yongle Emperor, a Chinese fleet of explorers led by the Admiral Zheng He traversed and mapped the world before the European Age of Discovery. Menzies employs the methods of historical research, logical reasoning, scientific observation, as well as archaeological evidence and old maps to support his theoretical discovery. Included in his historical research are old historical maps, archaeological shipwrecks, accounts by European explorers and Chinese literature from the time period of Zheng He.[1] As stated in Louise Levathes's book "When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433" the Chinese historical records that could have supported his theory were destroyed by Mandarins to prevent costly future exploration as well as being due to a strict conservative Confucian philosophy propagated by the Mandarins. The book intersperses Menzies' narrative of his travels around the world in search of evidence with speculation on the activities of the fleets. Menzies received a £500,000 advance for the book, which had an initial print run of 100,000 copies and rights sold in 14 countries.

While having been popularly praised for its engaging approach to history, reviews by some professional historians dismiss the theories of the book which they say uses "flawed reasoning," and "dubious if not dishonest interpretations of sources and evidence." But the criticism is not backed up with solid counter evidence to disprove the theories of Gavin Menzies.[2] Currently, the theoretical discoveries of Gavin Menzies are being investigated by historians for further confirmation.

Synopsis

This Chinese map, produced in 1763 and claimed by the unidentified author to be based on a 1418 Chinese map, has produced much controversy as to how much knowledge Medieval China had of the Americas and Antarctica even though the map uses European place names that had not yet been assigned in 1418.[3][4][5]

The book is informally written and generally structured as a series of personal vignettes of Menzies' travels around the globe examining evidence for the theory, interspersed with speculation[6] and description of their achievements. Menzies states in the introduction that the book is an attempt to answer the following question:

On some early European world maps, it appears that someone had charted and surveyed lands supposedly unknown to the Europeans. Who could have charted and surveyed these lands before they were "discovered"?

With European countries just starting to emerge from the economic poverty and technological underdevelopment due to 1000 years of the Dark Ages following the collapse of the Roman Empire, only China had the technology, economic wealth, military power and political will under the emperor to send such expeditions. The book then sets out to prove that the Chinese visited these unknown lands. Menzies claims that from 1421 to 1423, during the Ming Dynasty of China, ships in the fleet of Emperor Zhu Di (朱棣) and Admiral Zheng He (鄭和) and commanded by the Chinese captains Zhou Wen (周聞), Zhou Man (周滿), Yang Qing (楊慶), and Hong Bao (洪保) traveled to many parts of the world that were unknown to Europeans at that time. Menzies produces what he calls "indisputable evidence" that the Chinese discovered Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Antarctica, and the Northeast Passage; circumnavigated Greenland, made attempts to reach both the North and South Poles, and circumnavigated the world before Ferdinand Magellan. Menzies puts this forward as the "1421 hypothesis".

It is known as fact by academic sinologists that knowledge of these discoveries was subsequently lost because the Mandarin bureaucrats of the Imperial court feared that the costs of further voyages would ruin the Chinese economy as well as the fact that exploratory voyages to the unknown ran counter to the conservative Confucian philosophies of these court officials. According to Menzies, when Zhu Di died in 1424, the new Hongxi Emperor forbade further expeditions, and the Mandarins hid or destroyed the records of previous exploration to discourage further voyages.

Menzies discusses the first European attempts to colonize the New World and identifies the maps he used as evidence for his theories.

Method

The Kangnido map depicts the entirety of the Old World, from Europe and Africa in the west on the left, to Korea and Japan in the east on the right, with a greatly oversized China in the middle.

The hypothesis is based on Menzies' unconventional interpretations of evidence from shipwrecks, old Chinese and European maps, a translation of an inscription set up by Zheng He, Chinese literature that survives from the time (even though Menzies has no command of the Chinese language[1]), DNA evidence, and accounts written by navigators such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan. The hypothesis also includes claims that allegedly unexplained structures such as the Newport Tower and the Bimini Road were constructed by Zheng He's men.

Menzies bases his book on the accepted history of the voyages of Zheng He, who took a large group of treasure ships on a series of voyages between 1405 and 1433 ranging over most of the Indian Ocean, including trips to the Red Sea and East Africa. There has been speculation that on one of these voyages Zheng He's ships may have rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Atlantic Ocean.[7] This is derived from the account given in the Fra Mauro map of reports from junks from India in around 1420 which completed a 4000 mile trip round the cape.

Menzies offers no evidence to support the book's basic premise that the fleet divided in the southern Atlantic into three parts under separate admirals. He names the admirals and specifies their courses without explaining how he came by this information.

Maps

Detail of the Fra Mauro map relating the travels of a junk into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. The ship also is illustrated above the text.

1421 refers to several maps:

Release information

In March of 2002 Menzies rented a hall at the Royal Geographical Society, invited an audience, and gave a presentation (neither sponsored or invited by the Society) that resulted in interest from a variety of publishers.[8] Menzies received an advance of £500,000 for the book which had an initial print run of 100,000 copies and rights were sold in the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, Taiwan and eight further countries.[6]

Reception

Popular

The book and 1421 hypothesis was initially well-received within the popular press, especially acknowledging its sensational aspects.[9] In the months after the book's release, more critical reviews appeared. In 2003, an article in the New York Times Magazine contained some praise for the book as an enjoyable read and making "history sound like pure fun" but it also questioned many of the book's claims.[10] In the same year, Salon.com described the book as "fractured history, a mishmash of off-base conclusions drawn from amateurish research and wide-eyed "discovery" of well-known facts," and suggested that the publisher's willingness to exploit controversy to generate sales meant a failure to question the book's "unorthodox research" or check the truth of the claims.[8]

Academic

Within the academic world, the book was both supported and dismissed by some sinologists and professional historians.[11][12][13][6] In 2004, historian Robert Finlay severely criticized Menzies in the Journal of World History for his "reckless manner of dealing with evidence" that led him to propose hypotheses "without a shred of proof". Finlay wrote:

Unfortunately, this reckless manner of dealing with evidence is typical of 1421, vitiating all its extraordinary claims: the voyages it describes never took place, Chinese information never reached Prince Henry and Columbus, and there is no evidence of the Ming fleets in newly discovered lands. The fundamental assumption of the book—that Zhu Di dispatched the Ming fleets because he had a "grand plan", a vision of charting the world and creating a maritime empire spanning the oceans (pp. 19–43)—is simply asserted by Menzies without a shred of proof. It represents the author's own grandiosity projected back onto the emperor, providing the latter with an ambition commensurate with the global events that Menzies presumes 1421 uniquely has revealed, an account that provides evidence "to overturn the long-accepted history of the Western world" (p. 400). It is clear, however, that textbooks on that history need not be rewritten. The reasoning of 1421 is inexorably circular, its evidence spurious, its research derisory, its borrowings unacknowledged, its citations slipshod, and its assertions preposterous. Still, it may have some pedagogical value in world history courses. Assigning selections from the book to high-schoolers and undergraduates, it might serve as an outstanding example of how not to (re)write world history...Examination of the book's central claims reveals they are uniformly without substance.[14]

Professor SU Ming Yang of the United States, Dr. Jin Guo-Ping of Portugal, Captain Philip Rivers of Malaysia, Captain Malhão Pereira and Dr Geoff Wade of Singapore, in a message to the Library of Congress objecting to that institution's support for a conference featuring Menzies' participation, questioned the extent of Menzies' nautical knowledge[15] and state:

As scholars and educators, we feel a strong obligation to speak out publicly about what we feel is an inappropriate decision by the august Library of Congress to make its name and premises available as a platform for the author Mr. Gavin Menzies. His book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, is a work of sheer fiction presented as revisionist history. Not a single document or artifact has been found to support his new claims on the supposed Ming naval expeditions beyond Africa...Menzies' numerous claims and the hundreds of pieces of "evidence" he has assembled have been thoroughly and entirely discredited by historians, maritime experts and oceanographers from China, the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.[15]

In a later review, Wade also pointed out Menzies had a propensity for making claims of dramatic, forthcoming evidence that never arrived.[3]

Professor W. A. R. Richardson, in analyzing Menzies' claim that the Chinese discovery of Australia predates European exploration stated:

Works of historical conjecture such as his rely for their success upon a number of persuasive techniques. These include the use of that false logic called begging the question or circular argumentation, the all-pervasive and persuasive presentation of assertions as though they are established facts, the selective use of evidence, and frequent repetition. Menzies’ work is permeated by the above techniques. He relies extensively upon secondary and even tertiary sources, mainly works of the same speculative genre as his own, and upon any unsubstantiated rumour which can conceivably be interpreted as supporting his case.[16]

In a review of the 1421 hypothesis, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry stated that Menzies' case is very one-sided, in particular ignoring the many objections to the veracity and contents of the maps. The review also criticizes the use of the Gympie Pyramid and other dubious structures as proof of the theory as well as criticisms of the linguistic proofs (such as the use of an unnamed nonexpert to identify a purportedly unknown language as Malayalam then incorrectly claiming it is no longer widely spoken).[12] While expressing reserved praise for the engaging writing and valid criticisms of the Eurocentric bias of contemporary history found in the book, editor of the Asian Review of Books Peter Gordon objected strongly to the evidence cited by Menzies' to support his claims. Gordon examines the "Malayalam" inscription, and points out that as a known language it should be translatable and could also be reproduced in the book, though Menzies provides neither. The review goes on to say:

Menzies standard of proof typically runs as follows: identify some cultural feature (the evidence for which is usually far from solid), claim that the 1421 voyages are the "only" explanation, while at the same time ignoring (or being ignorant of) other similar cultural features that would tend to provide alternate explanations or contradict his...Menzies's proofs have a circular quality to them. He first posits that the Chinese did sail to the Americas and charted them. These charts play an important part in the argument, since there is no direct evidence of Chinese landfall in any of the places he mentions. These charts, he claims (again without direct evidence) traveled to Europe where there were then used by Western mapmakers. To demonstrate this, he takes Western maps, which he claims show actual geographical elements (as opposed to conjecture) that the Europeans could not possibly have known about (he claims) from their own prior experience or any other source of information close to hand, leaving the Chinese charts as the only possible source. Thus the Western charts become the evidence for the Chinese charts which he first used to explain the Western charts.[13]

Factual criticisms

In reviewing the book, historian Robert Finlay notes his personal opinions and beliefs in that a variety of misuses and mis-citations of sources, flawed assumptions and claims of evidence. Despite the fact that Robert Finlay has not presented any factual evidence supporting these unwarrented opinions against Menzies. Robert Finlay alleges that Menzies:[6]

  • Incorrectly claiming a book detailing the African origins of South American rice[17] supported the idea that the Chinese fleet brought rice to the New World
  • Using a Chinese novel to declare that Persian pottery possessed by Zheng He actually came from the Maya civilization
  • Falsely claiming one of Finlay's own publications[18] supported the idea that Vasco da Gama reported a fleet of 800 ships sailing into India
  • The depictions of the junks used by the fleet, central to Menzies' claims that they would be forced to traverse the globe following prevailing winds and currents, is inaccurate, and despite the relevance of the capabilities of these ships to the 1421 argument, suggests he did not review any of the existing literature on them
  • Menzies ignores the well-studied activities of six of Zheng He's voyages, focusing only on the second-last trip of two and a half years from which Zheng He returned early and was completed by his subordinates
  • Records of the sixth expedition are claimed to be lost, but there are in fact no "missing years"; documentation exists for the imperial order for the voyage in 1421, departure in early 1422, arrival in Sumatra in July of 1422, return of Zheng He to China in September of the same year, thirty-six ports visited between Sumatra and East Africa, and return to China in October, 1423
  • The alleged circumnavigation of the world, including time spent mapping, mining and colonizing new lands and the completion of construction projects on various continents all took place in the same amount of time it took Zheng He to return to China; to complete this trip, Menzies doubled the amount of time the fleet were documented as having spent traveling and assumed an average speed that was 52% higher than that shown in the travel records of the other fleets
  • The works of Ma Huan, which are the principal documents of the travels of Zheng He,[19] are dismissed in the book and it is claimed without evidence that Ma did not accompany the fleets past Calicut
  • Menzies claims the Venetian traveler Niccolò de' Conti accompanied the fleets on one of their explorations throughout the world and passed his knowledge and maps made during the trip to European explorers, though de Conti never mentions this trip in his memoirs
  • The fleet was not built using teak, but the presence of teak in marine excavations is used as proof of the voyage
  • Many of Menzies claims act as question-begging rhetorical confirmation of his own ideas:
    • Though there is no documentation of the garb worn by Zheng He's sailors, Menzies describes it as "long white robes" because there are legends of white-robed visitors found in the folklore of the peoples of Australia and the New World
    • There is no mention of women accompanying the fleet, but it is assumed that prostitutes must have been brought on the voyages because of the alleged colonies that were established
    • Chickens are inferred as accompanying the fleet because their presence in the New World is one of Menzies' proofs that the fleet visited this area
    • 1421 includes stonemasons as part of the crew because the presence of carved stones are used as evidence for the theory

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ptak, Roderich; Salmon, Claudine (2005), "Zheng He: Geschichte und Fiktion", in Ptak, Roderich; Höllmann, Thomas O. (eds.), Zheng He. Images & Perceptions, South China and Maritime Asia, vol. 15, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 9–35 (12)
  2. ^ "The 1421 myth exposed". 1421exposed.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02.; Finlay 2004; "Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.; "1421: The Year China Discovered the World". The Asian Review of Books.
  3. ^ a b Wade 2007
  4. ^ de Pastino, Blake (January 18, 2006). "Photo in the News: Map Proof Chinese Discovered America?". National Geographic News. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  5. ^ Lovgren, Stefan (January 23, 2006). ""Chinese Columbus" Map Likely Fake, Experts Say". National Geographic News. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  6. ^ a b c d Finlay 2004
  7. ^ Needham, J. (1961). Science and Civilisation in China, vol 4 part 3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |unused_data= (help); Text "Cambridge University Press" ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b Danford, N (2003-01-07). "The Chinese discovered America!". Salon.com. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  9. ^ Moorhouse, G (2002-11-23). "The queen's privateer and the emperor's eunuch". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  10. ^ Hitt, J (2003-01-05). "Goodbye, Columbus!". The New York Times Magazine. p. 18. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  11. ^ "The 1421 myth exposed". 1421exposed.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  12. ^ a b Newbrook, M (2004). "Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery". Skeptical Briefs. 14 (3). Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  13. ^ a b Gordon, P (2003-01-30). "1421: The Year China Discovered the World". The Asian Review of Books. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  14. ^ Finlay 2004, pp. 241f.
  15. ^ a b Gui-Ping, J (2006). "Joint Statement on the Claims by Gavin Menzies Regarding the Zheng He Voyages". 1421exposed.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Richardson, WAR (2004). "Gavin Menzies' Cartographic Fiction: The Case Against the Chinese 'Discovery' of Australia"". Journal of The Australian Map Circle Inc. The Globe. 56.
  17. ^ Carney, JA (2001). Black rice: the African origins of rice cultivation in the Americas. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674008340.
  18. ^ Finlay, R (1991). "The Treasure-Ships of Zheng He: Chinese Maritime Imperialism in the Age of Discovery". Terrae Incognitae. 23: 1–12.
  19. ^ Ma Huan (1970/1997). Ying-yai sheng-lan (translation title:The overall survey of the ocean's shores 1433). CUP Archive (1970); White Lotus Press (1997 reprint). ISBN 0521010322. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Sources

Further reading

External links

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