(Redirected from 1421 Hypothesis)
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.
[1]
The '1421 hypothesis' suggests that during the
Ming Dynasty of
China, from
1421 to
1423, ships commanded by the
Chinese captains
Zhou Wen (周聞),
Zhou Man (周滿),
Yang Qing (楊慶) and
Hong Bao (洪保), in the fleet of
Emperor Zhu Di's (朱棣)
Admiral Zheng He (鄭和), travelled to many parts of the world unknown to contemporary Europe. The suggestion was put forward by former
British Royal Navy submarine commander
Gavin Menzies in his book, '', first published in 2002.
The hypothesis proposes that the Chinese discovered
Australia,
New Zealand, the
Americas,
Antarctica, the northern coast of
Greenland, and the
Northeast Passage and that the knowledge of these discoveries was subsequently lost because the
Mandarins (bureaucrats) of the Imperial court feared the costs of further voyages would ruin the Chinese economy. When Zhu Di died in 1424, the new
Hongxi Emperor forbade further expeditions and to discourage further voyages the Mandarins hid or destroyed the records of previous exploration.
The 1421 hypothesis has proven somewhat popular with the general public, but has been dismissed by
Sinologists and professional historians.
[2][3][4][5] Criticisms refer amongst others to Menzies' "reckless manner of dealing with evidence", leading him to propose hypotheses "without a shred of proof".
Some critics have also questioned whether Menzies has the nautical knowledge he claims.
[1421 exposed article on Menzies, see in particular note 5 in the appendix]
Method
The hypothesis is based on 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, and accounts written by navigators such as
Christopher Columbus and
Ferdinand Magellan. The hypothesis also includes claims that unexplained structures such as the
Newport Tower and the
Bimini Road were constructed by Zheng He's men.
Maps
The
Kangnido map describes the entirety of the
Old World, from Europe and Africa in the west, to Korea and Japan in the east, with an oversized China in the middle.
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.
Several maps were used by Menzies in creating this hypothesis:
★ The
Kangnido map (混一疆理歷代國都之圖 or 疆理圖) (
1402), used to demonstrate an extensive geographical knowledge of the Old World (and particularly of the contour of the African continent) by Eastern Asian countries, even before the time of Zheng He's expeditions.
★ The
Pizzigano map (
1424)
★ The
Fra Mauro map (
1459), showing a general knowledge of Africa and Asia that predated European circumnavigation of Africa. Menzies believes that the coasts had already been charted by Arab or Chinese sailors. The Fra Mauro map also relates an expedition by an "Indian" ship into the Atlantic Ocean around 1420. To 15th century Europeans, "India" referred to the entire continent of Asia, and Menzies suggests that the ship being called a "
Junk" (''Zoncho'' in the original), was Chinese:
::"About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship, what is called an Indian junk (lit. "Zoncho de India", "India" meaning Asia in 15th century Europe), on a crossing of the Sea of India towards the Isle of Men and Women (close to
Socotra), was diverted beyond the Cape of Diab (
Cape of Good Hope), through the Green Isles, out into the Sea of Darkness (
Atlantic Ocean) on a way west and southwest. Nothing but air and water was seen for 40 days and by their reckoning they ran 2,000 miles and fortune deserted them. When the stress of the weather had subsided they made the return to the said Cape of Diab in 70 days and drawing near to the shore to supply their wants the sailors saw the egg of a bird called roc."
[6]
★ The
Cantino map (
1502)
★ The
Waldeseemüller map (
1507)
★ The
Piri Reis map (
1513). Menzies believes the Piri Reis map is proof that Admiral Hong Bao charted the coast of the southern landmass (said to be Antarctica) 70 years before Columbus as part of a larger expedition under
Zheng He to bring the world under China's tribute system.
★ The
Johannes Schöner globe (One was made in
1515 and another in
1520)
★ The
Jean Rotz map (
1542)
★ The ''Wu Pei Chi'' (''Wu Bei Zhi''; 武備志) map (redrawn after Zheng He's maps in
1628)
★ The
Vinland map, redrawn in 15th Century from a 13th century original.
★ Also presented on Menzies website is the
De Virga world map (1411-1415), as evidence of the propagation of eastern cartographic knowledge before the European
Age of Discovery.
Detailed claims
Claims made by Menzies (and contested by scholars) include:
# Eruption of
Soufrière, La Citerne and L'Echelle volcanoes on
Pizzigano map, twice between
1400 and
1440 (
1424 chart)
# Wrecks with gilded sterns: Chinese junks in
Mississippi near
Quivira (
Coronado 1550) and in
Caribbean (
Mafeo) and North Atlantic (
Menendez);gilt does not last, so junks wrecked relatively recently.
#
Chinese people not intermarried seen in
California,
Mexico,
Texas and
Florida by
Coronado,
Acosta,
Menendez and
Mafeo (
1550s)
#
Ming porcelain dated either by
Cobalt or by
Zhu Di's stamp — 1403 to 1421 — found in Americas, Africa, Australia
# Hull wood of junks
carbon dated:
Pandanan 1410,
Nanjing 1406,
Sacramento 1410,
Turiang early
1500,
Bakau c.
1410,
Santa Cruz (
Philippines)
1500,
Byron's Bay [sic] (
Australia)
1410 — and some of these contain evidence of voyages to America
#
Jade figurine at
Darwin, Australia dated by shape of
Canopus head to early
Ming, between
1008 and
1523 (Professor Wei's evidence)
#
Zeng He states '3,000 countries large and small' visited;
Liu Shia Chang,
Chian Su (unveiled
1431) —
Duyvendak first translation
# Pope's letter,
1448, about Chinese/Asians in
Greenland 'about 30 years ago', viz. c.
1421/
2; Chinese
DNA in Greenland people of
Hvalsey
#
Columbus's records (
1447), '70 years before, people from
Cathay in Orient' (Greenland)
#
Fra Mauro's map, 'about the year
1420', ship or junk from
India
#
Zhu Di coins (
1403-
24) found in wrecks dated by hull wood, for example
Pandanan
# Chinese star charts (''
Wu Pei Chi'') dated by precession of
Polaris to
1420± 20 years
#
Mao Kun map Chinese dated
1422, shows
Australia (
Sun Shuyun)
# Chinese records give dates fleet set sail, dates returned, and ambassadors brought —
Ming Shi (MS),
Ming Shi W (MSL);
Hsi Yang Fan Kuo Chih (HYFKC);
Kio Ch'veh;
Hsu Chiao Min Tung;
Chein (MTC), all early
Ming Dynasty ...
# ''Illustrated Record of Strange Countries'' published
1430 featuring animals from across the world
# Chinese official records (
Qing) listing countries visited by
Zeng He's fleet includes America and Australia
# Newport Round Tower mortar (post
1409)
#
Bimini hull ballast (after last 600 years) (evidence of Admiral
Zheng Ming)
# Dating of
Pizzigano,
Piri Reis,
Jean Rotz,
Waldseemüller,
Cantino charts, and
Vinland map (
2002 radiocarbon dating); Portuguese master chart of world dated
1428; Brazilian chart showing route to China (
1501).
Other evidence
Additional claims made by Menzies (and contested by scholars) include:
★
DNA studies showing "recent" DNA flow from
China to indigenous people of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and other explored land masses.
[7][8][9]
★ A drawing of an animal in a book reportedly published in China in
1430 showing what Menzies claims is an
armadillo, an animal found only in the
New World.
★ Hundreds of plant species, e.g.
Bananas, plantations of
rice — a crop foreign to the Americas — seen along the banks of the Amazon by
Francisco de Orellana, 1541, and cotton genetically identical to species from the Americas found on
Cape Verde Islands by the first Europeans, long before Columbus.
★ Horses, flightless ducks and Asiatic chickens and pigs in the
New World prior to Columbus's arrival.
★ Carved stones with Asian writing found in places such as the Cape Verde islands, South America and New Zealand.
★ Artifacts such as Chinese
porcelain and
jade found in the Americas which Menzies claims predate the arrival of Europeans.
★ Diseases such as
smallpox appearing before the arrival of Europeans.
★ Place names in Peru and Chile bearing linguistic similarities with Chinese, e.g. "Peru" means "white mist" and Chile ("Ch-Li") means "dependent territory" in Chinese.
★ Accounts of European explorers such as
Sir Francis Drake,
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado,
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and
João Rodrigues Cabrilho indicating Chinese settlements.
★ Wrecks of Chinese junks were present in the New World before European explorers.
★ The accounts of
Bartolomé de las Casas of two dead bodies resembling Indians on
Flores in the
Azores. De las Casas said he found that fact in Columbus' notes, and it was one of the reasons that led Columbus to assume India was on the other side of the ocean.
★ A 7-cm diameter plain brass medal found in North America with an inscription reading "Authorized and awarded by XuanDe of Great Ming"
[10]
Criticism
Menzies' methodology has been criticised on many grounds. Robert Finlay writes:
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.
The historians who have responded to Menzies' hypotheses have been strongly critical:
★ "Examination of the book's central claims reveals they are uniformly without substance."
[11]
★ "These myriad flaws do not make Menzies' book completely useless to teachers of world history. Rather, it might be used to teach students about the use and misuse of historical evidence."
[12]
The 1421 hypothesis is based on some documents of debatable provenance (e.g., the
Vinland map[13]) and on novel interpretations of already accepted documents (such as the
Fra Mauro map, de las Casas) as well as uncategorized archaeological findings.
Some critics focus their skepticism on the conspicuous absence of an explanation of why these Chinese fleets seemed to touch every coastline of the world except that of
Europe. The absence of any European records corroborating such an exploration is glaringly absent. Such a record, if it existed, would certainly have been handed down. On the other hand it is a given fact that
Chinese-
European contact existed as early as
100 AD.
While it represents a minor part of Menzies' argument, some critics also maintain that the linguistic evidence cited by Menzies is itself questionable. It is inevitable that similarities between words taken from any pair of languages will exist-- even if only by pure chance. Thus, the short lists provided by Menzies are considered by some to represent unsatisfactory evidence. Furthermore, none of the alleged Chinese words listed by Menzies as similar to words of the same meaning in the
Squamish language of British Columbia is an actual Chinese word. Similarly, the presence of Chinese-speaking people in various locations in the Americas could be explained by immigration after Columbus, yet Menzies cites no evidence that these communities existed prior to Columbus.
[14]
Menzies' critics note that throughout the book he displays a lack of chronological control e.g. p138 with a story of a map dated to 120 years before 1528; Menzies dates the map to 1428 not 1408. Critics also claim many true but irrelevant facts are included presumably to confuse the reader. In other cases, they say supposed relevant facts are due to mistranscriptions.
Another criticism is that Menzies did not consult the most obvious source of information on the Zheng He voyages, namely the Chinese records from the period themselves. Menzies asserts that most Chinese documents relating to the travels of Zheng He were destroyed by the same Mandarins responsible for the closing of China's borders in the years following 1421. While it can be supposed that some records have been destroyed, other records remain in extensive form, including the account by
Ma Huan published in 1433 and other information in the Ming dynastic histories. These records have even served as the basis for previous historical accounts of the Zheng He voyages, such as that by Louise Levathes.
[15]
Some critics have also questioned whether Menzies has the nautical knowledge he claims.
[16] Some feel that his unsubstantiated claim to have actually sailed the same seas is suspect, particularly while commanding
HMS ''Rorqual''. Menzies and his publisher have also been criticised for misrepresenting his background as an expert on China. The dust jacket of ''1421'', states that Menzies was born in China. In fact he was born in London.
[17]
Menzies makes another argument both in his book and also in a PBS program based on what he claims to be similarities between appearance of Native Americans and Chinese. Menzies claims that Columbus believed until he died that he had reached China 'because' he saw Chinese people (who were actually Native Americans) in the New World. Menzies uses this statement to claim that Columbus saw the previously settled Chinese "colonizers" from Zheng He's voyage. Most people take this to be completely baseless and false. Columbus actually believed he had reached India and he thought the people he saw were Indians. This attack is not without its own flaws, though, for in Columbus' time China was referred to as "India" by Europeans.
An additional problem posed by the theory of Chinese-Native American contact is that of the lack of Native American immunity to Eurasian diseases. According to
Jared Diamond's ''
Guns, Germs, and Steel,'' advanced agricultural societies living in dense populations develop immunities to and carry diseases not found in the sparser populations of the New World. There are no indications of any die-out consistent with Eurasian-American contact prior to Columbus's landing. Should the Native Americans have been exposed to such a catastrophe prior to 1492, they would have been prepared for it with immunities and not suffered such hideous losses.
Australia
Menzies cites several stone structures in and around Sydney and Newcastle as evidence of pre-European contact with Australia by the Chinese. These structures in fact do not exist, or if they do Menzies has failed to provide sufficient detail for people to locate the structures and verify the accuracy of his claims. On page 203 of his book, Menzies writes of the 'Chinese' ruins in Bittangabee Bay. According to the commemorative association AOTM, these are more likely to be a structure built for the Imlay family in the 1840's than ancient Chinese. On page 220 there is the claim that "A beautiful carved stone head of the goddess Ma Tsu...is now in the Kedumba Nature Museum in Katoomba." In fact no such museum actually exists. There once was a curio stand in Katoomba called "Kedumba Nature Display" but it closed down in the 1980s. Later on in the book, Menzies recruits "a local researcher",
Rex Gilroy, for his valuable discovery of a Chinese pyramid in Queensland: the
Gympie Pyramid.
Menzies claims that the Gympie pyramid is "the most direct and persuasive evidence of the Chinese visits to Australia". However, this is the same Rex Gilroy who at one time ran the "Kedumba Museum" and purportedly found the Chinese carved goddess Ma Tsu from the Chinese Fleets, a connection which Menzies fails to mention. Menzies also fails to mention that Gilroy himself used the Gympie Pyramid as evidence of the Egyptian discovery of Australia. (Rex Gilroy is also well known in Australia as the "father of
Yowie research", Australia's
Bigfoot.
[18] The Gympie Pyramid has been researched independently and found to be part of a retaining wall built by an Italian farmer to stop erosion on a natural mesa on his property.
[19]
Footnotes
1. The Economist, January 12, 2006
2. The 1421 myth exposed
3. [1] Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery
4. [2] 1421: The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies
5.
6. Fra Mauro map, Inscription 10, A13
7. Dr Annabel Arends and her colleagues are continuing the pioneering work begun by her father, Dr Tulio Arends, and Dr Gallengo into the DNA (transferrins) of the Indians of Northern Brazil, Venezuela, Surinam and Guyana, proving that these tranferrins are otherwise unique to natives of Kwantung province in China.
Gavin Menzies, ''1421'', p460
Tulio Arends, M. L. Gallango, W. Carey Parker & Alexander G. Bearn ''A New Variant of Human Transferrin in a Venezuelan Family'' (Abstract)
8. ... 'Chinese' DNA found among the Zuni peoples of Pacific America.
Gavin Menzies, ''1421'', p479
9. ''Alu'' sequences are, the authors [Professor Norvick, et alia, 'Polymorphic Alu Populations' in ''Human Biology'' (vol. 70)] state, 'exceptional genetic markers'. The report summarises:
''The results corroborate the Asian origin of Native American populations but do not support the multiple-wave hypothesis supposedly responsible for the tripartite Eskaleut, Nadene and Amerind linguistic groups. Instead, these populations exhibit three major identifiable clusters reflecting geographic distribution. Close similarity between the Chinese and Native Americans suggest recent gene flow from Asia.''
Ibidem, p482 & 578
''Polymorphic Alu insertions and the Asian origin of Native American population'' ''Human Biology'', Feb 1998 by Novick, Gabriel E, Novick, Corina C, Yunis, Juan, Yunis, Emilio, Et al
10. Article on a brass medal found in North America
11. How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America, , Robert, Finlay, Journal of World History,
12. book review, , John E., Wills, World History Connected,
13. Discussion of the Vinland map
14. 1421 Bill Poser
15.
16. 1421 exposed article on Menzies, see in particular note 5 in the appendix
17. Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview with Menzies.
18. Rex Gilroy's statement on his status as the father of Yowie research
19. Skeptic's webpage on the Gympie pyramid
References
★ Levathes, Louise, ''When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433'', Oxford University Press, 1997, trade paperback, ISBN 0-19-511207-5
★
Ma Huan,''Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores (1433), translated from the Chinese text edited by Feng Ch'eng Chun with introduction, notes and appendices by J.V.G.Mills. White Lotus Press, reprint. 1970, 1997.
★
1421, The Year China Discovered the World, Menzies, Gavin, , , Bantam Press, 2002, ISBN 0593050789
See also
★
Kangnido map
★
Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories
★
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
★
Chinese exploration
External links
★
1421 official website.
★
ABC television Page with numerous transcripts and sub-pages criticizing the 1421 hypothesis.
★
L1 and Alu insertions in Native Americans and East Asians Dienekes' Anthropology Blog, Friday, March 11, 2005
★
Phylogenetic information in polymorphic L1 and Alu insertions from East Asians and Native American populations L.H. Mateus Pereira, et alia
★
Diversity at eight polymorphic Alu insertion loci in Chinese populations shows evidence for European admixture in an ethnic minority population from Northwest China ''Human Biology'', Aug 2002 by Xiao, Feng-Xia, Yang, Jun-Fang, Cassiman, Jean-Jacques, Decorte, Ronny
'Criticisms'
★
1421 exposed, an academic website criticising Menzies' theories
★
1421: The Year the Chinese DID NOT Discover America: A Tabulation of the Evidence Against Gavin Menzies
★
Gavin's Fantasy Land
★
Critique of linguistic claims, including an
update
★
General criticism of numerous points in ''1421'', retrieved December 17th, 2006
'News stories'
★
BBC News article: 'China map lays claim to Americas'
★
China beat Columbus to it, perhaps by The Economist,
January 12, 2006
★
"Speculation That Chinese Explorer Discovered America", Windows Audio from Public Radio International ''The World'' program,
January 17, 2006
★
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners Program Transcript of "Junk History"
★
"The Independent article: Hero of the Ming Dynasty: The man who mapped the world"
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