1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance
| 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance First edition hardcover | |
| Author | Gavin Menzies |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | History |
| Publisher | William Morrow and Company |
Publication date | June 3, 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 384 |
1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance is a book by former British submarine commander Gavin Menzies. In it, Menzies provides historical evidence which seems to show that by 1434 Ming Dynasty Chinese delegations of Zheng He (aka. Cheng Ho) had reached Italy by sea voyage and contributed significantly to the Renaissance through technology and idea exchange. Menzie's current discovery of documents suggesting a Chinese visit to Renaissance Europe is currently being studied by historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, university history professors, and amatuer historians. [1]
Theory
Menzies provides historical evidence and documents to suggest that the Chinese delegations had a series of meetings with the Pope and his court. According to 1434, the consequences of these meetings were of great importance because they took place just as Europe was emerging from a millennium of stagnation following the fall of the Roman Empire. Menzies claims that, while the ideals of the civilisations of Greece and Rome played an important role in the Renaissance, the transfer of Chinese intellectual capital to Europe was primarily responsible for initiating the Renaissance.
Reception
Some critics have pointed to problems in the research underpinning 1434. One review compared it to a Wikipedia article, pointing out that many of his references are sourced to the "friends of the 1421 website" and that he gives too much weight to amateurs. "For example, to support the assertion that the Chinese fleet sailed up the Adriatic coast en route to Italy, he cites a Croatian geneticist who reports longstanding local rumours of 'Oblique-eyed yellow Easterners' visiting Adriatic islands sometime before 1522."[2]
Altschuler remarks that Menzies' work contains a "fundamental fallacy of logic" assuming that as the Chinese Emperor wanted Europeans to render tribute to him he "must have ordered that the tomes be brought to Italy to educate the 'barbarians'".[3]
See also
Notes
- ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL242804420080730?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0
- ^ Hoffman, Tod, "Rethinking Europe's Renaissance", The Montreal Gazette, 26 July 2008 [1]
- ^ http://www.sce.cornell.edu/sce/altschuler/pdf/altschuler_review_20080727_63.pdf