1421 Talk For 60+ Festival

1421: The Year China Discovered the World? * A Personal Discovery for the Portsmouth over 60s festival October 2011 by Peter Missen

Agenda
My personal discovery
The book's author
The book/structure
Nautical charts
Info on China
Conclusions
The web site
Evidence

One Saturday morning
Browsing a bookshop
For “Japanese” books
Oriental design caught my eye
Flicked through the book
Sparked an immediate interest
Parted with some cash
Went home and read most of the day, HOOKED!

The Skills for Life group looking for speakers
I mentioned the 1421 book
and here I am!
I did contact Gavin
and the Publisher.
Publisher sent a set of foils
Just pictures, no notes!
Have used a few (GM)

The author – Gavin Menzies

According to Wikipedia:
Gavin Menzies (born 1937) is a retired British submarine commander and amateur historian best known as the author of the controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, which asserts that ships from the Chinese fleet of admiral Zheng He travelled to the America s prior to Christopher Columbus' arrival in 1492 and circumnavigated the globe a century before Ferdinand Magellan as part of the era of Chinese exploration . This thesis has been discounted "as nonsense" by professional historians.

Menzies, who has no command of Chinese, was born in London, England. Early versions of his book erroneously said he was born in China but in actuality he moved to China when he was 3 weeks old. Menzies joined the Royal Navy in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970. Menzies claims he sailed the routes sailed by Ferdinand Magellan and Captain James Cook, while he was commander of the diesel submarine HMS Rorqual between 1968 and 1970, a contention questioned by some of his critics.

The book
1421 The Year China Discovered the World
By Gavin Menzies
Published by Bantam Press, London
Back cover says: On 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their orders were:
' to proceed all the way to the end of the earth '.

The book
Back cover continued The journey would last for two years and by the time the fleet returned, China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. And so the great ships were left to rot, and the records of their journeys were destroyed. And with them, the knowledge that the Chinese had circumvented the globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, and Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook. The result of fifteen years research, 1421 is Gavin Menzies' enthralling account of this remarkable journey, of his discoveries and the persuasive evidence to support them: ancient maps, precise navigational knowledge, astronomy, surviving accounts of Chinese explorers and later European navigators as well as the traces the fleet left behind.

Fact or fiction or romance?
I'm not an authority on any of this
I present some of what's in the book
Many have trashed this work
There are supporters of this work
The book was a fascinating read
The book holds many facts about China
Medieval China was very developed
China sent out treasure fleets
China knew some things centuries before Europeans
Don't shoot the messenger!
I'm happy to make this session interactive...

Book structure
Acknowledgements
Introduction
I Imperial China
II The guiding stars
III The voyage of Hong Bao
IV The voyage of Zhou Man
V The voyage of Zhou Wen
VI The voyage of Yang Qing
VII Portugal inherits the crown

Book structure
Epilogue: The Chinese legacy
Postscript
Appendices
Chinese circumnavigation of the world 1421-3: Synopsis of Evidence
The determination of longitude
Notes
Index

Acknowledgements
Royal Navy for his education in
Seamanship, cartography, astronavigation
Visits to 900+ museums worldwide (3 called out)
The British Museum
The Shaanxi Historical Museum in Xian
Museum of History in Lima
Numerous libraries all around the world
6 pages of names to thank
Finally his Italian wife, Marcella, for the finance!

Memorial stone
The countries beyond the horizon and at the ends of the earth have all become subjects and to the western of the western or the most northern of the northern countries however far they may be.
Part of an inscription on a memorial stone erected by Admiral Zheng He at Ch'ang Lo on the banks of the Yangtze estuary in 1431.

Zheng He
In the People's Republic of China
11th July is Maritime Day ( 中国航海日 )
The day is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage
1st Voyage 1405-1407 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Aru, Sumatra, Lambri, Ceylon, Kollam, Cochin, Calicut
2nd Voyage 1407-1409 Champa, Java, Siam, Cochin, Ceylon
3rd Voyage 1409-1411 Champa, Java, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Quilon, Cochin, Calicut, Siam, Lambri, Kaya, Coimbatore, Puttanpur
4th Voyage 1413-1415 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Cochin, Calicut, Kayal, Pahang, Kelantan, Aru, Lambri, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Barawa, Malindi,Aden, Muscat, Dhufar
5th Voyage 1416-1419 Champa, Pahang, Java, Malacca, Sumatra, Lambri, Ceylon, Sharwayn, Cochin, Calicut, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Barawa, Malindi, Aden
6th Voyage 1421-1422 Hormuz, East Africa, countries of the Arabian Peninsula
7th Voyage 1430-1433 Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Calicut, Hormuz

Introduction
Retired Author - interested in medieval history
Studying charts of ancient mariners
Noticed 2 large “islands” where nothing exists today
On Pizzigano Chart of 1424
Worked out as the Caribbean
Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe
Who was there?
70 years before Columbus!
Started a 15 year search

Nautical charts
Progressing through the book
Sparked an interest in these early charts
I spent a bit of “Google” time
I'll show a few of the well know charts
From before and after the 1421 voyages

Nautical charts list
Kangnido 1402
De Virga World Map 1411-15
Ming Map 1418?
Pizzigano Chart 1424
Fra Mauro's Planisphere 1459
Cantino World Map 1502
Waldseemüller Map 1507
Piri Reis Map 1513
Jean Rotz Map 1542

Kangnido 1402 The Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo Jido "Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries and Capitals" is a map of the world made in Korea in 1402. It is 158.5 cm by 168.0 cm, painted on silk.

De Virga World Map 1411-15 This map, made by Albertinus de Virga between 1411 and 1415, is drawn on a piece of parchment 696x440 mm and also includes a calendar and two tables. One table was for calculating lunar changes, the other the date of Easter.

1418 Ming Dynasty Map?

1418 Ming Map?

Pizzigano Chart 1424 The Pizzigano chart is an Italian portolan chart dated 1424. The map contains large islands in the North Atlantic Ocean to the west of Spain and Portugal!

Pizzigano Chart 1424 GM

Fra Mauro's Planisphere 1459 Fra Mauro's planisphere is "considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography" according to Roberto Almagià. The map was made by the Venetian monk Fra Mauro. The map is a circular planisphere drawn on parchment and set in a wooden frame, about two meters in diameter.

Cantino World Map 1502 The Cantino World Map is named after Alberto Cantino , an agent for the Duke of Ferrara, who successfully smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502.

Cantino World Map 1502 GM

Waldseemüller Map 1507 The Waldseemüller map is a wall map of the world drawn by German cartographer Martin Waldseem ü ller. It was one of the first maps to chart latitude and longitude precisely, following the example of Ptolemy, and was the first map to use the name “America".

The Piri Reis map was compiled in 1513 from military intelligence by the Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, on gazelle skin. The half of the map that survives shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy. Piri Reis Map 1513

Piri Reis Map 1513 GM

Jean Rotz Map 1542 The Jean Rotz map was drawn by the official 'hydrographer' to King Henry VIII. The map depicts the coastlines of Africa, Asia, India, and China with great accuracy, yet more surprisingly it also shows the east, west, and northernmost parts of Australia, some two centuries before Cook made his 'discovery'.

Google maps 21 st Century

Google maps - Caribbean Puerto Rico Guadeloupe

Back to the book...
Emphasising information on China
15 years of research in the book
Lots of background information
Navigation
Oceans
Charting
Sailing
Wildlife
Plants/trees
Peoples encountered

I Imperial China - The Emperor's grand plan
New Year's day 2 Feb 1421
China dwarfed every nation
Emperor Zhu Di's Inauguration
In the forbidden palace
28 heads of state present
From Asia, Arabia, Africa, and The Indian Ocean
All brought by Chinese ships

I Imperial China - The Emperor's grand plan
NOT INVITED WERE:
Holy Roman Emperor
Emperor of Byzantium
Doge of Venice
King of England (Henry V)
King of France
King of Castille
King of Portugal
These backward states lacked any: Henry V
Trade goods
Worthwhile scientific knowledge

I Imperial China – The fleet set sail
Navigated using the Wu Pei Chi
This document has survived
By 1421 China had over 600 years of ocean navigation
Based on the Pole Star
They had the compass
Could not use sun for latitude yet (Portuguese in 1474)
Used sand clocks for time
10 lots of 2.4 hours per day (length of a seaman's watch)
Problem measuring longitude
Could not tell the speed of water moving under them
No measure of absolute time yet (wait 350 years for this!)

Chinese Marine Engineers built awesome ships
Able to withstand storms and typhoons
Junk compared with a European ship

15 th Century Chinese marine technology
Robust frame in sections
Watertight bulkheads bolted together with brass pins
3 layers of hardwood on a teak frame
Caulked with coir and sealed with boiled tung oil and lime
Acres of orchards of tung trees needed for the fleets
Reinforced bow with channels to internal compartments
Teak keel bound with iron hoops
Rectangular and composite stones plus mud balls for ballast
Additional movable keels for stability
Semi submersible anchors to reduce rolling

The Chinese junks of the 'treasure fleet' were MASSIVE!
500 feet long
9 masts
4 decks
Models show:
Zheng He's junk
European ship

Admiral Zheng He's fleet included:
Somewhere between 500 and 800 ships (accounts vary)
180 medical officers
1 medical officer per 150 people
Elite crew of navigators and compass men
Worked from a small bridge – lived separate to rest
Ships also carried artisans and all sorts of craftsmen
Caulkers, sail makers, anchor and pump repairers, scaffolders, carpenters, tung oil painters
These craftsmen kept the fleet in good repair
Historian, Ma Huan, on board to document voyage.
Published “Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores” in 1433

Separate 'grain ships' carried supplies
Soya beans, wheat, millet, and rice
The Chinese knew about scurvy
Took limes, lemons, oranges, pomelos, and coconuts
3 months supply for each sailor
Soya very versatile – sprouted, milk, curd, tofu, and sauce
Fresh vegetables – cabbages, turnips, and bamboo shoots
Limited meat but lots of fresh fish caught by otters
Fresh water and knew how to distil from sea water
Rats hunted by dogs
Arsenic to kill bugs and insects

I Imperial China – A thunderbolt strikes
2 months after fleet sailed
Lightening struck the imperial palace
The gods signal a change of emperor!
Economy hit hard by many building works:
Forbidden city
Treasure fleet
Grand canal
Great wall

Emperor Zhu Di was weakened
Mongol leader refused to pay his tribute
Zhu Di mounted an army to get back pride
1 million men
340,000 horses
177,550 carts to transport grain
Died on 24 th August 1424
His son Zhu Gaozhi ascended the throne
A disaster for the treasure fleet!

Emperor Zhu Di's funeral was a grand affair
As was his life – a visionary and gambler
2 day march to the imperial mausoleum
At Chang Ling in the NW foothills of Beijing
A cortege 10,000 soldiers and officials
A magnificent tomb
Yellow imperial cloak and military decorations
Plus 16 concubines buried alive with him!

Zhu Gaozhi issued this edict on day 1:
All treasure fleet voyages to be stopped
All ships ordered home
All ship building and repair stopped
All official procurement for overseas voyages to be stopped
All purchasers to return to capital
China reverted to basics and closed down to the outside world
Inflation controlled – no mining of gold and silver
Purchase of luxury goods banned
Budget deficit slashed
Note: China had paper money from 806 (centuries before Europe)

Any foreign trade meant execution as a pirate!
Learning foreign languages was prohibited
Embargo on trade rigorous for next 100 years
To prevent trade a south coast strip of land burnt
700 miles by 30 miles
Population moved inland
Shipyards decommissioned and plans destroyed
All accounts of Zheng He's voyages destroyed
Established colonies abandoned
Africa, New Zealand, North and South America, Australia

II The guiding stars - Rounding the cape
The “missing years” from 1421 to 1423
Liu Daxia, Ministry of War
Ordered destruction of all written records
2 carved stones found, 1 in Chiang-su, 1 in Liu-Chia-Chang
To commemorate Zheng He's crowning achievements
The great voyages of the treasure fleets
We have travelled more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away, hidden in a blue transparency of light vapours, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds, day and night continued their course, rapid like that of a star, traversing those savage waves. (1 li is approximately 500m)

II The guiding stars - Rounding the cape
The Chinese traded with Calicut since Tang dynasty (618-907)
Capital of Kerala and most important port in Indian Ocean
Ruled by Hindu kings
Extensive trade: cotton, textiles, spices
Chinese use Calicut as a forward base
All sailing distances based from Calicut
The fleet returned ambassadors to Africa and headed South
Once round the Cape the wind and currents give a free ride all the way to Cape Verde Islands
Chinese charted the West coast of Africa on their journey
After leaving Cape Verde next land sighted would be Brazil

II The guiding stars - The New World
In 499 Hoei-Shin returned from a land 20,000 li eastwards
He named the land Fusang after a tree there
The tree bore a red pear shaped fruit
Had edible shoots and bark
Inhabitants used for clothing and paper
The Maguey tree that grows in Central & South America?
Hoei-Shin commented no iron was found
Iron is found all over world except for Central America
Did Hoei-Shin get there nearly 1000 years before?

Voyages of the Treasure Fleets, 1421-3

III The voyage of Hong Bao - Voyage to Antarctica and Australia
Hong Bao's designated task was to chart world eastwards from 52º40'S (Falkland Islands)
Cabbage, wild celery, penguins, geese, and fish
No fruit there
Only 4 legged animal – a tame fox type creature
Possibly descended from Chinese food dogs
Canopus used as guiding star in the Southern hemisphere
“ The Straight of Magellan” same latitude as star
Superb feat to get a junk through the straights
Magellan had a Chinese map when he sailed

III The voyage of Hong Bao - Voyage to Antarctica and Australia
Cold and ice held no fears for Chinese sailors
Chinese had 800 years experience of polar sailing (North)
1000 years experience of navigating in ice
Nearest port to Beijing is ice bound 3 months a year
Use of Canopus gave Chinese a 50 year lead over Portuguese
The Chinese charted the South Shetland Islands
Charting precision meant they were
there a while!
Uninhabited wilderness of ice and rocks

IV The voyage of Zhou Man - Australia
Zhou Man's task – survey world west of South America
Encountered the Humboldt current
Swept northwards up the coast of Chile
A novel about Zheng He's voyages – Hsi-Yang-Chi (1597)
Listed tributes offered from barbarians
Whale eyes, bream whiskers, camels that go 1000 li, ambergris, frankincense, Cholula porcelain bowls
Where was the source for these?
Assuming camels were llamas everything comes from Peru
Next stop Australia
Just the small matter of the Pacific Ocean to cross...

IV The voyage of Zhou Man - The Barrier Reef and Spice Islands
Valuable scientists on Chinese junks were mining engineers
China + India had half of the world's entire wealth in 1421
China had centuries of experience in
Geology, mineral extraction, processing
Chinese set up long term mineral extraction settlements
Fleet included horse ships for exploring lands
Blood ponies from Tajikistan were favourites
Chinese took great care of their horses
Chinese geologists arrived in a mineral paradise
Wrecks on coast, stone buildings ashore, aboriginal rock carvings and paintings all signal Chinese were in New South Wales

IV The voyage of Zhou Man - The first colony in the Americas
Arrived in Nanjing 8 October 1423 with no envoys
Where did he sail for 4 months in the Pacific?
The Pacific coast of North America?
A wreck off Neahkahine beach
Made of teak, calophyllum pulley (South East Asian wood)
Found paraffin wax (used to desalinate sea water)
Asiatic chickens from Chile to California
Roses indigenous to South East Asia
Ming blue and white porcelain
Medieval Chinese anchors found off California coast

IV The voyage of Zhou Man - Colonies in Central America
Mexican maque lacquer process identical to Chinese
Unusual, complex, and time consuming
Surface preparation - cracks are filled
With nimacarta – a mixture of rice flour and seshime
Article is sanded down
Then 10-100 coats of lacquer applied with human hair brush
Layer must dry, be sanded, and then polished
Polishing with whetstone and deer horn powder
Red colours used predominate in Mexico and China
Did the processes evolve separately?
Same with dye stuffs producing brilliant colours
Complex procedures to extract and fix - coincidence?

V The voyage of Zhou Wen - Satan's Island
By 1337 China had accurate estimate
of the distance from the Pacific to the Atlantic
From Cape Verde just a short 2000 mile hop
Zhou Wen probably thought it was 4000 miles
Due to the sea moving under them
Cannibals in Guadeloupe?
As Columbus found later
Did the Chinese give this island a wide berth?
Pizzigano information much less detailed than Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico people much more peaceful!

V The voyage of Zhou Wen - The treasure fleet runs aground
Did the fleet get damaged?
Many wrecks in the area
What is the Bimini Road?
2 man-made trenches of huge rocks
Slip ways to repair Chinese Junks?
Using Ballast stones from the damaged vessels?
Hauled up ships with rudder and keel in the groove
Flat bottom boat needs lots of ballast
500 – 600 tons (2000 tons of cargo)
Investigation blocked by Bahamian authorities...

V The voyage of Zhou Wen - Settlement in North America
In 1542 Verrazzano encountered people the colour of brass
With long black hair and quick black eyes
Not natives – where did they come from?
Chinese DNA evidence
Physical evidence...
Rhode island tower
Wants to test the mortar
Chinese use gypsum & rice to bind
Many stones with carvings

V The voyage of Zhou Wen - Expedition to the North Pole
The island of Corvo – Portuguese arrived in 1430
Found a statue of a man on a horse
Inscription was not understandable
Greenland circumnavigated!
Warm summers meant ice receded
Hvalsey people possess Chinese DNA
Intricate carvings found on walrus ivory
Did the Waldseemüller map details come from the journey home?
North coast of Siberia very accurate – who was there?

VI The voyage of Yang Qing - Solving the riddle
Yang Quin stayed in the Indian Ocean – a Chinese lake!
100s of years experience navigating the ocean
Chinese built many observatories
Measured time by length of shadows
By 721 Chinese had measured shadows accurately
Vary by 3.56 inches per 400 miles
Zhou Gong tower measurements
Summer solstice 12.3695 feet
Winter solstice 76.7400 feet
Could calculate each day of the year from the noon shadow

VII Portugal inherits the crown - Where the earth ends
In 1421 Portuguese sailed to the uninhabited island of Madeira
Colonisation began in June 1421
News filtered back to Portugal of the Chinese discoveries
They took up the gauntlet
And were NOT sailing into the unknown!
Started a great wave of European expansion and colonisation
Spread across the globe
Has affected the destiny
of billions of people

VII Portugal inherits the crown - Colonizing the New World
All about Portugal...

VII Portugal inherits the crown - On the shoulders of giants
North East coast of Brazil discovered by the Chinese?
On many maps before European explorers sailed
Europeans rediscovered the world
Known at first hand to the Chinese and Niccolo da Conti
Niccolo da Conti was on a Chinese Junk that reached Australia
Europeans set sail with Chinese maps showing the way
How unlucky China was that fire ravaged the Forbidden City
The world could have been a much different place!

Epilogue: The Chinese legacy
Chinese Buddhist architecture graces Asian skylines
From Malacca to Kobe
Chinese silk from the Ming dynasty
From Africa to Japan
Chinese blue and white ceramics
From Australia to Manchuria
Chinese jade
Communities united by trade, religion, and written language
4000 km from east to west and north to south
The Chinese imperial footprint remains
The footprint of a colossus

Postscript
Gavin gave a talk in 2002 about his theories and evidence
At the Royal Geographic Society, London
Broadcast around the world
Articles appeared in 74 newspapers
New evidence poured in from all around the world
Including news of a large wreck off Fraser Island
More and more DNA evidence
e.g. Korean DNA in Norwegian fishermen

Appendices
Well over 100 pages!
Appendix 1 - Chinese circumnavigation of the world 1421-3: Synopsis of Evidence
Part I – European explorers did not discover the New World
Part II – Only the Chinese had the capacity to chart the world at that time
Part III – Evidence of the voyages of Zheng He's fleet
Part IV - Evidence Zheng He's fleets' visits to specific places
Part V – Genetic fingerprints left by Zheng He's fleets – the DNA evidence
Appendix 2 - The determination of longitude

Notes
There are comprehensive notes throughout
the book
19 pages!
Usually link to evidence or further reading
Need 2 bookmarks for this book
One for the text and one for the notes...

Index
Yes there's an index, it's a book!
18 pages of 2 column index

Conclusions
Very glad I read the book
Many ideas in the book to make you think
Increased my awareness of Chinese culture
I have since started to learn Mandarin...
Shows what we take for granted these days
The Internet!
Global Positioning System
Google: Maps, Images, Search

The web site
http://www.1421.tv/
G o take a look if this has sparked an interest

Detail left out
There follows a few slides I'd made but they did not make the final cut...

Web site flyer
1421: The Year China Discovered the World
Gavin Menzies
Published by Bantam Press, London
In his first book, 1421, Gavin Menzies argues that a huge Chinese fleet circumnavigated and charted the world years before the first great European voyages of discovery. The evidence for this comes in many different forms: from shipwrecks and ancient maps, to local people's accounts and their DNA.

Evidence
DNA tests show that in the Americas today there are 18 peoples whose forebears were settlers from Zheng He’s fleets.
These people have lived separate lives to other native Indian peoples from that day to this.
Many still understand Chinese and practise Chinese customs.
China had thus settled the Americas before Columbus set sail - and done so on a grand scale.

Evidence
By 1424 the Chinese had set up a world wide trading Empire.
Not only did the first European explorers have maps (based on earlier Chinese ones), which showed them the way to the New World, but also they found an established international trading system when they got there.

Evidence
There is extensive Chinese heritage (genes) in Native American Indian populations - far more than has hitherto been accepted.
Some American Indian people’s DNA is so close to Chinese they could be deemed to be Chinese.
The Maya of the Yucatan peninsular are Chinese (DNA).
Late Maya art of Yucatan is often Chinese art.

Evidence
Some of the Inca people of Peru and Chile are Chinese (DNA).
The Inca hierarchy, notably Viracocha, was made up of Zheng He’s Admirals.
Their secret language was Phaspa.
Fernando Llosa Porras and Reverend Ranking were correct.
Chile or “Chi-Le” was a directly ruled dependency of China.
The “Giants” of Patagonia were Mongolians.

Evidence
It is arguable that the Aztec Montezuma was a Chinese Admiral - the birth of the Aztec Nation coincided with the Arrival of Zheng He’s fleets.
In 1422 a huge comet hit the earth at 48 degrees South, 166 degrees East, destroying Chinese Fleets and civilisations across the World - work of Dallas Abbott and team (comet) and Professor Edward Bryant (tsunami).

Evidence
Zhou Man’s Fleet was hit by a resultant tsunami, and was hurled north to New Zealand and north-west to Australia.
The wrecks of 44 of Zhou Man’s Fleet have been located on New Zealand, South Island - work of Cedric Bell.
Zhou Man’s Fleet was coming to revive the Chinese settlement on New Zealand, which had been established in the Han Dynasty (c.150 BC) - Cedric Bell’s work.

Evidence
The Chinese had occupied New Zealand, South Island for 2000 years before Captain Cook arrived.
This accounts for Maori’s MtDNA being Taiwanese - work of Dr Geoffrey Chambers.
New Zealand was a Chinese colony founded for the extraction of gold and minerals.

Evidence
Zheng He’s Fleet passed through the Red Sea - Nile canal and reached Europe - Martin Tai and Antonia Bowen-Jones.
The Fleet, which set sail in 1421, was of 1000 ships not 100 as stated in the book - Professor Robert Finlay of Arkansas University.

Evidence
The Chinese discovered Jupiter’s moons 2000 years before Galileo.
They deployed this knowledge to be able to calculate longitude 3 times each day - work of Rosa Mui.
The Chinese had colonised the Azores (DNA) before they were discovered by the Portuguese.
The Chinese had colonised Puerto Rico (DNA) since 1421.

Evidence
The Taino of Puerto Rico were Chinese.
Zheng He’s passage charts of South and West Africa, Australia, the Antarctic and Weddell Sea have recently been found in a Hong Kong library.

Evidence
Recent DNA analysis by DNAPrint Genomics – we have results which show up to 40 % East Asian admixture amongst Native American Indians.
Hot spots include the Melungeons and Ojibwa.
Full details will be published as and when we get them.

Evidence
Members of the 1421 team delivered a series of presentations at the Library of Congress International Symposium on Zheng He Studies, May 2005.
Presentations covered topics including early Chinese voyages to the Americas from 2200 BC, Marco Polo and Kublai Khan's exploration of the world, and the finding of an huge Chinese base by Paul Chiasson in Nova Scotia.
For more information please visit www.marcopolovoyages.com

Evidence
Zheng He's master chart of the world, 1418, has been found in China.
The so called Ming map - has caused some controversy!

Evidence Gallery
Shipwrecks
Ceramics
Jade
Metal artifacts
Cave art
Stone buildings, mortar, carvings
Flora and fauna
Miscellaneous artifacts

More from Gavin's web site
A section of the website contains speeches that Gavin gave in the Far East in November 2003. He addressed a total of 16 different organisations in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. The speeches are based on new evidence that has continued to pour in from the 1421 website, as well as research carried out by people from all over the world. Much of the evidence was revealed for the first time in these speeches.
To read "Talk A - How the story came about..." please click here
To read "Talk B - Zheng He's Fleets Voyages from South America to New Zealand and Australia" please click here
To read "Talk C - The first Panama Canal and the first Suez Canal were built by the Chinese and the Egyptians" please click here
To listen to Gavin’s presentation at the Ancestry e-Symposium please visit the following link here

List of Maps and Diagrams
Voyages of the Treasure Fleets, 1421-3
East Asia, c. 1421
The voyage to Sofala
The circulatory winds and currents in the South Atlantic Ocean
i) The Kangnido map showing Africa
ii) The Kangnido map corrected for longitude
iii) Modern Africa
The journey to the Cape Verde Islands

The journey to Tierra del Fuego
The Piri Reis map compared to modern Patagonia, showing the straights of Magellan
The Falkland Islands on the Piri Reis, compared to a modern map
The journey to Antarctica
Locating the Southern Cross
Hong Bao's journey to Australia
Zhou Man's journey to Australia

Evidence of the visit of the Chinese treasure fleet to Australia
Auckland and Campbell Islands, as shown on the Jean Rotz map
The journey around New Zealand
The routes of Hong Bao and Zhou Man around Australia
Hong Bao's journey home and Zhou Man's journey through the Spice Islands

The San Francisco Bay area, showing the winds blowing into the Sacramento River
Evidence of the visit of the Chinese treasure fleet to the Americas
Zhou Wen's journey through the Caribbean
Guadeloupe shown on the Pizzigano map, compared with a modern map
Puerto Rico shown on the Pizzigano map, compared with a modern map

The bays and inlets of Puerto Rico, depicted on the Pizzigano map
The Cantino map showing the Caribbean and Florida, compared with a modern map
Locations of unidentified wrecks on the route to Bimini
The junk's approach to Bimini and the Bimini Road
Zhou Wen's journey up the east coast of Florida

The journey to Rhode Island
The locations of standing stones in Massachusetts
The voyage to the Azores and Cape Verde Islands
The journey around Greenland
Greenland shown on the Vinland map, compared to a modern map
Chinese bases across the Pacific Ocean

Solar eclipse
Lunar eclipse
The progression of a lunar eclipse across the Earth's surface

1421 Talk For 60+ Festival

by Peter Missen

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