I finally finished this book. For some reason, when I read non-fiction, I fall asleep, no matter how interesting the subject matter. So this is a long time coming.
Basically, the book is about how towards the end of China's expansive age, they sent out a gianormous fleet of huge ships to collect tribute from all the nations of the earth in a good Buddhist way. And as a bonus, they were to chart the world and update all their scientific data (or whatever the 15th century Chinese terminology for it was). And then, because they did this, the charts spread to Europe and gave them the boost they needed to go exploring and try to catch up to Chinese navigational superiority. It did help that while this big fleet was gone, the Chinese government turned upside down and they decided they didn't want to deal with the outside world anymore, so they burned all their evidence that these voyages ever happened.
When I picked up this book, I was all ready to accept every word. OF COURSE the Chinese discovered the world first. Now that I've finished it, I find myself pretty skeptical. Of this author's version of things at least. How do people really know which plants and animals originated where? Were they there? Is carbon dating really all that accurate? If we are trusting DNA and carbon records, are we following it in the right directions? (OK, those are mostly my own stumbling blocks.)
How come the Chinese didn't already know about America and have their own rudimentary maps, the same way that the Europeans did? (In the end he hints that they might have...part of the problem is that they got rid of their own records to be isolationists.)
Shouldn't they have sent people directly across the Pacific instead of the long way 'round? (Again, he says prevailing winds and currents make the long way a little easier. Plus they were apparently dropping off people in India. But still, nobody thought of this option?)
On a similar note, why was there no exploration of the eastern side of Central America? Shouldn't one of the priorities have been to create that direct route--especially with a fleet so large? No maps ever show farther than the Caribbean Islands.
If one of the points of the exercise was to take detailed notes and charts, why weren't the people who stayed in the places they landed at (shipwrecked usually) still interested in keeping records? They had promises that they would be rescued, and since they didn't know the political climate at home, they should have assumed any records from actually living in the land would be as valuable or more to their homeland. So why has no one found these kinds of records?
Anyway. Those are some of my concerns. Mostly, I didn't like the parts where he puts his conjecture forward as though this is the only way it could have possibly happened. I did like when he tied it all back to the Europeans though--the way they got ahold of the charts and began to use them for themselves.
I believe that people were exploring the oceans and the world before the Europeans became the driving force behind things. I don't think that means we should think less of the European explorers (give Columbus his holiday back!). I would most certainly not be here or the same without them. Especially since the European influence has been stronger, even if it was not as nice as the Chinese who "colonized" America first.

Selama ini saya hanya tahu ekspedisi Laksamana Cheng Ho itu ke Asia Tenggara dan salah satunya mendarat di Semarang, Jawa Tengah. Tapi dari uraian super detil di buku ini, saya jadi tercengang krn ternyata ekspedisi maharaja ini mengelilingi dunia. Luar biasa sekali kalau memang terjadi hal ini di abad 15.

Dan gak spt bayangan saya selama ini kalau ekspedisi ini berbondong-bondong dan berduyun-duyun, ternyata mirip taktik dan strategi perang dimana Cheng Ho memecah ekspedisi ini menjadi 4 yg dipimpin masing-masing oleh Laksamana Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Zhou Wen dan Yang Qing. Dgn detil yg menakjubkan yg dikisahkan oleh author, saya mendapat gambaran bhw teknologi maritim China pada abad 15 ini sangat maju, jauh melampaui Eropa yg masih miskin.

Cheng Ho tentu saja tidak bisa berlayar dgn megahnya seandainya tidak ditunjang oleh Kaisar Zhu Di yg visioner. Sayangnya ekspedisi ini sangat memakan biaya dan nyawa sehingga setelah Kaisar Zhu Di meninggal, ekspedisi ini tidak dilanjutkan lagi oleh pengganti Kaisar. Dan lebih konyolnya, para Mandarin memusnahkan semua bukti-bukti pelayaran Cheng Ho dkk itu (mungkin bisa dibandingkan dgn perjalanan ke Bulan pd masa sekarang, mustahil tapi bisa saja terjadi).

Bab-bab awal yg saya baca saya suka krn menceritakan politik Dinasti Ming era Zhu Yuanzhang hingga Zhu Di meninggal. Sayangnya saya kurang demen dgn detil-detil lainnya, ttg bukti-bukti artefak bangkai kapal, DNA para suku asli di Amerika dsb. Saya gak se-telaten itu buat mengingat-ingat semua bukti sejarah itu. Andai saja saya bisa time travel kembali ke abad 15 utk melihat sendiri bukti kejayaan maritim China ini.

Trash and nonsense.
Racist, orientalist, trash.
Entertaining I guess?

Should have been a novel.

Some debunking: https://web.archive.org/web/201311090...

From the moment I saw this book in the store I was fascinated. When I brought it home I had already made a mental plan as to when I would read this book. I was reading two books at the time and decided to put it third in line. As I read the other books I found that my mind was wandering and I was having trouble concentrating. 1421 was in my mind, 1421 was in my blood, I was hooked. I deserted the two books I had been reading and dedicated myself to this new quest. Historians place their faith in a premise that certain facts are above suspicion and can be accepted as truth. One of these assertions is that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. What if historians were wrong? What if a fleet of Chinese ships made the discovery 71 years earlier and this fact was deliberately deleted from the annals of history? Everyone has heard of the wonders produced during the Ming Dynasty so why couldn’t these great rulers muster the men and ships to undertake a sea voyage of world exploration? Gavin Menzies spins a believable yarn, introducing obscure facts and figures to hypothesis.

Sang Kaisar telah memerintahkan kami [Cheng Ho:] dan lainnya [Zhao Man, Hong Bao, Zhou Wen, dam Yan Qing:] di depan puluhan ribu pejabat dan tentara kekaisaran untuk melakukan perjalanan menggunakan lebih dari seratus kapal…untuk memperlakukan orang-orang asing dengan baik … Kami telah pergi ke wilayah-wilayah barat … total semuanya lebih dari tiga ribu negara besar dan kecil. Kami telah melewati lebih dari seratus ribu li (empat puluh mil laut) perairan luas.

- Prasasasti Cheng Ho di muara Yangtzhe – China –


Sejarah eksplorasi dunia mencatat bahwa pelaut-pelaut Eropalah yang menemukan dunia baru. Kisah perjalanan mereka selalu dikenang, dimulai dari Bartolomeu Diaz (1450-1500) yang meninggalkan Portugal pada tahun 1487 dan menjadi orang pertama yang mengelilingi Tanjung Harapan di ujung Selatan Afrika. Vasco Da Gama (1469-1525) mengikuti jalur Diaz sepuluh tahun kemudian. Ia mengarungi lautan timur Afrika dan menyeberang Samudera Hindia menuju India, membuka jalur perdagangan rempah-rempah melalui laut. Dan yang paling populer, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), sejarah mencatat bahwa dialah orang yang pertama melihat Dunia Baru – Benua Amerika. Lalu mucullah Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) mengikuti jejak Columbus dan dikenal karena menemukan selat antara lautan Atlantik dan Pasifik yang kemudian dikenal dengan selat Magellan.

Lima belas tahun yang lalu, Gavin Manzies (69 thn), mantan perwira Angkatan Laut Kerajaan Inggris tengah melakukan riset mengenai sejarah abad pertengahan. Secara kebetulan ia mendapati sebuah hasil temuan yang sangat mengagumkan, sebuah petunjuk tersembunyi di dalam sebuah peta kuno. Peta tersebut bertuliskan tahun 1424 dan ditandatangani oleh seorang pembuat peta dari Venezia bernama Zuane Pizzigano. Peta tersebut memperlihatkan beberapa buah pulau yang baru saja ditemukan oleh pembuatnya yang ternyata merupakan pulau-pulau di kepulaun Karibia, Puerto Rico dan Guedepole. Hal ini mengejutkannya karena berarti seseorang telah menjelajah kepulauan tersebut sekitar tujuh puluh tahun sebelum Columbus singgah di Karibia. Ini temuan baru, sebelum Columbus sudah ada yang terlebih dahulu menemukan Dunia Baru. Siapa yang melakukan pernjelajahan sebelum Columbus ? Berdasarkan riset awalnya terhadap peta tersebut, Mandiez mengambil satu kesimpulan awal bahwa saat itu hanya satu negara dengan segala perlengkapan dan pengetahuannya ilmiah yang tinggi yang dapat melakukan penjelahan tersebut. Negara tersebut adalah China.

Mandiez tak berhenti dengan meneliti peta Pizzigano, berbekal pengetahuannya mengenai masa Peradaban Yang Agung, ia menghabiskan bertahun-tahun mengelilingi dunia di jalur perjalanan armada China abad ke 15. Ia meneliti arsip, museum, dan perpustakaan, mengunjungi monumen kuno, kastil, istana, dan pelabuhan besar pada akhir Abad Pertengahan, mengesplorasi tanjung berbatu, karang koral, pantai dan pulau terpencil. Ke mana pun ia pergi, ia menemukan semakin banyak bukti fisik berupa porselen China, sutera, artefak, batu pahatan, tanaman yang berasal dari China yang tersebar di pantai Afrika, Amerika, Australia dan Selandia Baru yang akan memperkuat tesisnya bahwa China lah yang menemukan Dunia Baru!

Walau hingga kini risetnya masih terus berlangsung dan berbagai temuan baru masih ia peroleh, pada tahun 2002 Mandiez medokumentasikan tesisnya yang memutar balikkan sejarah tersebut kedalam sebuah buku yang mencengangkan dunia : 1421: The Years China Discovered The World.

Kini, empat tahun setelah bukunya diterbitkan, penerbit Alvabet menerjemahkannya dengan judul 1421 : Saat China Menemukan Dunia. Secara sistematis buku ini mengulas bagaimana China di abad ke 15 yang telah memiliki pengetahuan navigasi yang luas memulai penjelajahannya mengelilingi dunia.

Buku ini dibagi kedalam tujuh bab besar yang masing-masing berjudul : Kekaisaran China, Bintang-bintang Petunjuk, Pelayaran Hong Bao, Pelayaran Zhou Man, Pelayaran Zhou Wen, Pelayaran Yang Qing, dan, Portugal Mewarisi Tahta.

Pada bab Kekaisaran China dan Bintang-bintang Petunjuk, secara rinci dijelaskan bagaimana latar belakang Zhu Di, putra keempat Zhu Yuanzhang – yang tumbuh menjadi kaisar Ming pertama., dan bagaimana Zhu Di merebut Nanjing Ibukota kekaisaran dari tangan kaisar Zhu Yunwen yang hendak membunuhnya. Setelah berhasil menduduki Istana Naga, ia memroklamirkan dirinya sebagai kaisar dengan menggunakan gelar dinasti Yong Le. Cheng Ho seorang kasim yang sebelumnya merupakan penasehat tredekat Zhu Di kini menjadi salah satu kasim yang berada dalam lingkaran dalam kekaisaran. Di era kaisar Zhu Yunwen, kelompok kasim merupakan kelompok yang terpinggirkan, kini di era Zhu Di kaum kasim menjadi salah satu kekuatan politik China, dan tokoh yang paling berkuasa dari semua itu adalah Kasim Agung, Cheng Ho

Oleh Zhu Di, Ceng Ho dijadikan kepala komandan salah satu armada perang. Ia diperintahkan untuk melipatgandakan ukuran galangan kapal Longjiang, dekat Nanjing. Tujuan Zhu Di adalah untuk menciptakan apa yang telah gagal diraih oleh Kubilai Khan : Kerajaan Maritim yang merentang samudera.

Untuk mewujudkan ambisinya Zhu Di menyiapkan ribuan kapal baru. Kapal-kapal ini akan berlayar menuju samudera dunia dan menggambarnya, mengesankan sekaligus mengintimidasi para penguasa asing, membawa seisi dunia ke dalam ‘sistem upeti’ China. Selain itu Zhu Di juga memindahkan ibukota China dari Nanjing ke Beijing. Ia membangun Kota Terlarang yang pada saat pembukannya diperingati secara besar-besaran dan mengundang para duta besar dari berbagai negara.

Beberapa bulan kemudian, pada 3 Maret 1421, sebuah upacara besar digelar kembali untuk mengantar keberangkatan para duta besar ke negara asalnya. Lima Armada besar telah disiapkan oleh Cheng Ho untuk membawa para tamu itu ke negaranya masing-masing. Kembalinya para duta besar ke negeri asal mereka masing-masing hanyalah salah satu dari bagian dari seluruh misi armada itu. Kelak armada itu akan melanjutkan mengarungi lautan menuju ujung dunia untuk mengumpulkan upeti dari kaum Barbar yang berada di seberang lautan, menarik semua yang berada di bawah langit untuk hidup bermasyarakat dalam kerukunan ajaran Confusius (hal 33). Dan ini terjadi 70 tahun sebelum Columbus mengarungi samudera.

Selanjutnya buku ini secara berturut-tutur membahas pelayaran Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Zhou Wen dan Yang Qing. Armada Hong Bao dan Zhao Man berlayar dengan mengambil jalur arus khatulistiwa barat daya menuju Amerika Selatan. Sesampai di kepualauan Fakland Hong Bao bergerak menuju menuju Antartika dan Australia, sementara armada Zhou Man menjelajahi wilayah Barat Amerika Selatan menuju Australia dan sampai di kepulauan rempah-rempah di Asia Tenggara yang terletak antara Australia dan China.

Sementara itu Armada Zhou Wen yang mengambil jalur ke barat daya laut mengikuti arus khatulistiwa utara hingga akhirnya tiba di Kepulauan Tanjung Verde, menuju Karibia, pesisir Timur Florida hingga Amerika Utara, dan menuju Kutub Utara dengan mengelilingi Greenland.

Armada Yang Qing yang telah meniggalkan Beijing satu bulan lebih awal dari armada lainnya, menghabiskan seluruh pelayarannya di perairan Samudera Hindia dan berdagang dengan negara-negara di wilayah sekitarnya. Namun bukan berarti palayaran Yang Qing kalah pamor dibanding armada lainnya. Selain sukses berdagang, di akhir pelayarannya orang-orangnya berhasil menyempurnakan metode menentukan garis bujur lebih dari dari tiga abad sebelum penemuan kronometer oleh John Harisson.

Pada Bab terakhir yang berjudul Portugal Mewarisi Tahta, terungkap bahwa pelaut-pelaut Portugal yang menyusuri dunia ternyata telah memiliki peta yang dibuat oleh pelaut-pelaut China. Dengan peta China sebagai pemandu, maka tak ada tempat yang tak bisa dilalui oleh para kapten kapal laut Portugis, dan bagi mereka menjelajah batas-batas dunia hanyalah masalah waktu saja.

Buku ini memang sangat komprehensif dalam mengungkap siapa sebenarnya yang telebih dahulu menjelajahi dunia. Pengalaman Menzies sebagai marinir Angkatan Laut Kerajaan Inggris yang terbiasa dengan peta, navigasi, arah angin, dan arah bintang sebagai petunjuk memudahkan dirinya untuk menelusuri jejak-jejak armada China baik melalui peta-peta kuno maupun bukti-bukti yang ia peroleh dalam perjalanan dan risetnya.

Bukan hal yang mudah bagi Menzies untuk melakukan risetnya ini. Seperti diungkap dalam buku ini banyak bukti tertulis pelayaran penjelajahan bangsa China telah hilang atau dimusnahkan secara sengaja ketika kaisar Zhu di mangkat dan digantikan oleh putranya. Kebijakan politik yang berbeda dengan Zhu Di menyebabkan warisan Zhu Di, Ceng Ho berupa arsip-arsip, catatan perjalanan, dll dirampas dan dihancurkan oleh penguasa baru

Bukti resmi tertulis yang dimiliki China sebagian besar telah lenyap, namun pelayaran armada-armada China di abad 15 meninggalkan warisan berharga di tiap daerah yang dikunjunginya. Berbagai bukti warisan pelayaran China tersebut terungkap secara mendalam dan rinci dalam buku ini, misalnya satu bukti yang bisa disaksikan dimana-mana : tanaman dan binatang yang dibawa oleh armada China menuju kepualauan baru, juga tanaman dan binatang yang dibawa kembali ke China.

Selain itu beberapa artefak, prasasti, bangkai kapal China yang terdapat di pesisir Amerika Selatan, Australia, Kepulauan Pasifik menjadi saksi bisu tentang kedatangan armada China ke pulau-pulau tersebut. Lalu ditambah lagi legenda yang mengisahkan kedatangan orang-orang berkulit kuning yang menggenakan jubah panjang di kalangan suku Aborigin juga menjadi saksi kedatangan bangsa China jauh sebelum bangsa Eropa sampai di Australia.

Buku ini dilengkap pula dengan Catatan Tambahan yang memuat temuan-temuan terbaru mengenai ekspedisi China ke berbagai negara di dunia, antara lain hasil tes DNA terhadap suku Indian Sioux dan Cree Ojibwa di wilayah Wiscosin Amerika ternyata memiliki DNA China!. Selain catatan tambahan, di bagian akhir buku ini juga memuat lampiran ringkasan Bukti setebal 84 halaman yang berisi ribuan bukti-bukti primer dan sekunder yang menunjukkan bahwa China lah yang membuka jalan bagi penjelajahan dunia.

Buku yang ditulis dengan mendetail ini memang menarik untuk dibaca. Di setiap lembar halamannya pembaca akan diajak menyelami bukti-bukti yang menegaskan kedatangan bangsa China ke berbagai penjuru dunia, hanya saja bagi pembaca awam yang asing dnegan istilah-istilah navigasi, peta, arah angin, dan letak-letak garis lintang dan bujur dalam menentukan arah pelayaran, beberapa bagian dalam buku ini mungkin menjadi sangat membosankan.

Publik Indonesia patut bersyukur dengan diterjemahkannya buku ini. Seperti kita ketahui Indonesia memiliki persinggungan sejarah dan budaya dengan Cheng Ho, bahkan di Semarang terdapat sebuah kuil yang didirikan khusus untuk menghormatinya. Tentunya buku ini layak dijadikan buku referensi bagi mereka yang hendak melakukan riset mengani sejarah eksplorasi dunia dan memberikan fakta baru mengenai siapa sesungguhnya penemu dunia Baru, Columbus kah, atau Laksamana-laksamana China di bawah komando Cheng Ho?

Yang pasti buku ini akan menjadi sebuah karya legendaris dan cerdas yang melacak sejarah hingga mengubah pemahaman kita tentang penjelajahan dunia. Dengan buku ini, sejarah telah ditulis ulang.


@h_tanzil

A fascinating book. Simply put, in the 15th century China discovered North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Greenland, Hawaii, The South Pole, The North Pole, and some other smaller places (i.e. everywhere) before Europeans did, and when Europeans later "discovered" the same areas they did it using Chinese maps. The author says he has tons of evidence to back up his claims, including Chinese DNA spread all around the world, maps saying so, Chinese artifacts scattered hither and yon, and sunken Chinese ships probably right under your feet (please check, for science).

After reading this book, I did a little more reading about it, and other people say the author has no evidence to back up his claims. Obviously I cannot independently verify either his claims or their claims about his claims, but I find the idea of medieval China's enormous fleets (800+ ships each several hundred feet long) sailing and colonizing the globe very appealing, and so I will now partially believe it.

When I first read this years ago, having not much knowledge about this time in history or about the Treasure Fleets, I found it compelling and would have given the book at least 4 stars at that point.
However, after discovering that the author is not as reliable as he makes himself out to be, I must give it one star. His entire theory is considered fictitious by the majority of modern scholars. When I found out I felt embarrassed that I had actually told other people about this book.
A complete disappointment.

In 1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies presents evidence that China not only discovered North and South America before Columbus was born, but also rounded the Cape of Good Hope, explored the North and South Poles, discovered Australia, and circumnavigated the world, visiting every continent except Europe.

The reason this information isn't widely known is because China became xenophobic after these great voyages and all records of the voyages were destroyed. However, enough evidence of these voyages remains to provide compelling proof.

Menzies focuses on maps of the world made before the European explores were born and points to journals showing that Columbus, Magellan, Cook, and others had maps of the areas they were "discovering" before they ever set sail.

Magellan knew where the Straight of Magellan was by using a map. Cook found Australia the same way. Columbus didn't discover America on accident; he simply followed the map he brought with him. In fact, when Columbus landed on Puerto Rico, he found an earlier Portuguese voyage had already settled there ahead of him. (The Portuguese landed in Puerto Rico a short ten years after the Chinese.) Columbus wasn't even the first non-Scandinavian European to visit America! Also, Columbus himself admits that the Chinese had been to America before him.

Where did these maps come from? Menzies shows that Europeans who visited India came into contact with the Chinese and brought maps back to Europe. Portugal kept the maps a secret from the rest of Europe to give them an advantage in the spice trade. However, Columbus and his brother copied the maps, altered them to make it look like it was easier to reach the Spice Islands by going west rather than east and tricked Spain into financing a voyage to the Americas.

Menzies also presents a mountain of evidence of Chinese explorations around the world including Chinese stone markers and observation pyramids, ancient Chinese shipwrecks, including one found in San Francisco Bay, Chinese artifacts found around the world, Asian plants and animals introduced to the Americas, American plants and animals brought back to China, legends and cave drawings of indigenous peoples, and Native Americans with Chinese DNA who speak languages similar to Chinese.

In addition to presenting compelling evidence, Menzies also provides interesting historical tidbits. For example, the Chinese had trained otters who herded fish into nets. He provides fascinating descriptions of medieval China, which made me wish the grade school history classes I took didn't focus solely on Europe and European America.

The only problem I had with the book is that it gets repetitious towards the end, especially the epilogue that I found unnecessary since it just restates evidence from earlier in the book. Strangely, he includes an appendix explaining how the Chinese measured longitude, which is almost exactly the same word for word as his description of how the Chinese measured longitude found in Chapter 15, making it completely extraneous. Except for this one shortcoming, the book is a fantastic read and gives us indisputable proof that our history books need to be rewritten.

Lies and distortions, through and through. Glad I didn't pay more than $1 for this trash.

If Menzies hadn't made so much money off of this "book" and its subsequent TV specials, I would have thought he was paid by the Confucius Institute to promote mainland China's ridiculous line of nationalist history.

Trained sea otters? ARCTIC voyages? Ahem, the "Bimini Road?" ...seriously, need I say more?

I'm disappointed as I really wanted a scholarly look at Zheng He's fleet, the circumstances that created it and what exactly happened that prevented further fleets. Will now look elsewhere.

This is a difficult book to rate, let alone review.
This review, therefore will probably jump around a bit, contradict itself, confuse you, and end up being awkward and poorly edited.
First to a rating, as this may focus my train of thought.
If I rated on readability - 4* - it is readable, presented relatively simply, but unfortunately is prone to some repetition.
If I rated on engagement, or how much appeal the subject matter has - 4*.
If I rated on how the book deals with presenting evidence in a scientific manner - 2* (more on this later).
If I rated the book on my irritation as the author manipulates assumptions and presents them as evidence, I would rate it 1*.
Overall, I think I am fence sitting at 3*. I do own another two books by Menzies, and I will read them, which means I can't really rate this less than 3*, or I wouldn't feel able to read more.

And so, to content. As I read this book, I started out making notes of some bits to refer to in my review. This got out of hand very quickly, and I stopped completely. As other reviewers have said, Menzies is an "amateur historian". This is obvious from the outset - he even states it up front, and makes no apology for it. It does cast doubts, and while he constantly refers to his cast of scientists supporting his theories, they seem background characters, and their credentials are seldom shared.

That is not to say that Menzies THEORY is not possible, or even plausible. There are certainly some compelling arguments, examples and THEORIES which seem essential to follow up. In this book, certainly, there seem so many that it is perhaps reckless of the scientific historian community not to be following this up. However that is part of the problem with this book - it is probably unfair to expect Menzies to write about the other side of his assumptions and theory - why would he present the evidence that doesn't fit. It is because of the amateur nature of this book that at no time does the reader feel they are being offered an opportunity to decide anything. Menzies takes this choice out of our hands. He simply tells us what he believes happened, and that we should believe him.

One of the most annoying aspects of his writing, is his use of repetition, and subtle changes to the repetition to strengthen his position. During the narrative he regularly starts of with an assumption - a mere speculation that fits some vague evidence. Some pages later he will return to that assumption, and add a further layer of speculation, restating it as likely. Later again he will confirm this as fact, evidenced by X an Y theory. In his summary chapters the original "theory" is a certainty. This process undermines his evidence, in my view.

Another trait which lessens the effect of his narrative is his repetitive use of phrases to sell his assumption. "By this point I was sure...", "I realized that Zhou must have...." and "From my days as a navigator, I knew that ....". The use of these phrases, in my view changes this from a serious historical investigation to a game of join the dots.

However, his presentation methods aside, it is still a fascinating THEORY. There can be no doubting the depth of Chinese Culture. Winchesters Bomb, Book & Compass: Joseph Needham & the Great Secrets of China goes some way to describing the technological achievements of the Chinese, and there is no reason to think that navigation and seamanship should not have been ambitions of China.

Menzies helper scientists were also in the process of DNA testing at the time of publication, and he uses the postscript in this edition in a couple of ways. One is to throw around some proof of Chinese DNA in pretty much all of the native peoples of the world from American Indians to New Zealand Maori, from native Alaskans (Aleut) to the Incas and Australian Aboriginals. Again we are just told this is incontrovertible proof - but it is not explained (but to be fair, I probably wouldn't understand it either). The other thing he does is take a return swing at some of the academics who have challenged aspects of his theory. This is sort of an easy way for him to score points, as he can pick one or two of the challengers, present their argument as he wishes to and then respond. I think it lacks the professionalism required in an impartial and formal challenge to history.

But before I finish my rant, as promised, some out jumping around, because I realise you may have no idea what this book is about. The basic THEORY is that the Chinese in 1421 set sail with a massive fleet of many hundreds of ships (some massive) to explore the world and return to their homes many hundred of envoys from other countries who had been in Beijing to pay homage to Emperor Zhu Di. (These envoys, and hundreds of concubines play a part later, when they help back up some theories about certain native peoples being 'whiter' having integrated not only the Chinese but some of these envoys into their breeding.)

The flotilla of ships splits up into many, many routes, and basically not only returns some of the envoys, but carries on to discover almost the entire world, from Antarctica to Greenland, both coasts of Africa and South America, North America, the Azores, Caper Verde, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Also the obvious ones - India, the Spice Islands, parts of the Middle East and Indonesia. Pretty much all but Europe (I understand that Europe is suddenly on the table in Menzies next book, called 1434). They not only visited, they accurately surveyed and charted the extent of their travel, and even set up numerous colonies.

This, all far before the Portuguese and their Age of Discovery, and long, long before the Dutch explorers and James Cook etc.
More than just beating them to it, according to the theory, every single one of those famous explorers were in possession of the Chinese originated maps, and therefore were not heading off in discovery, but were simply following the map to places they knew existed! They just never really told anyone.
And the reason that China holds no substantial written (or oral) history on this? There was a fire which destroyed the Forbidden City. As a result the emperor lost his nerve (to do with the gods revoking his mandate to rule) and China shut her borders, and destroyed all the evidence of their explorations, and suppressed all records. Anyway that is the very short version.

But I have written enough, and need to put this review to rest, as it is approaching TL;DR.

As justified above, 3 stars.

I found this book in Emily's room. It makes the case for the Chinese fleets having mapped out most of the world prior to the European explorations of 1492 and after. The case for the Carribean islands and South America, and even coast of Antarctica and Australia is very strong. The case of North America is a little weak, and requires more speculation. I found this very interesting.

Did you ever read this?

History rewritten with Chinese characters.

Ex-submarine officer Gavin Menzies received a calling to investigate medieval Chinese history after receiving an old European nautical map. After the initial examination of the chart he believed that it likely contained information not available to Europe prior to the year 1492 CE. The result was an odyssey of research spanning several years and trips around the world about one of history's greatest admirals, Zheng He.

As fleet commander of one of the largest naval armadas in human history Zheng He sailed throughout the seas and oceans surrounding Asia. Gavin Menzies took where history ends and theories and legend began: that Zheng He's ships circumnavigated the world and accurately mapped everything from West Africa, to the Caribbean and even New Zealand.

As the reader I have never read such book that made learning about history (and our theories about it) so fun! The book is controversial (at least to some people) because of two things: There are nearly no existing Chinese records of the 1421-1423 voyages of Zheng He's ships due to a brutal medieval censorship in the 15th century. Second, Gavin Menzies backed up his theories as a retired naval officer using his knowledge of the weather and ocean currents therefore reverse engineering how it was physically possible for the Chinese fleet to explore the world in the 1420's.

For the record I believe Menzies is correct that an international fleet lead by the Chinese navy navigated the world over seventy years before Europeans. He also discovered that he was far from the only person who spent years researching the subject eventually becoming an honorary college professor in China. I ultimately believe him due to the way he connects various pieces of evidence. I also believe him because Menzies claims to not have all the answers, that there is so much more to this mystery in every part of the world.

Pros:
Rewriting large amounts of commonly accepted history.
In-depth knowledge of extremely advanced Chinese naval techniques and technology.
Great analysis of naval voyages typical of that time.
Complicated information about oceans explained in simple ways for a general audience.
The famous Simon Vance narrating the audio book version.

Cons:
It takes a while for the book to finally get to the part about the Chinese fleet (understanding the prologue is very important however).
Sometimes the explanations of the navigation methods used by the Chinese feature too much information.