1421 talk for portsmouth university

1421: The Year China Discovered the World? A Personal Discovery for The University of Portsmouth 22nd January 2013 by Peter Missen

Agenda

My personal discovery

The book's author

The book/structure

Nautical charts

Information on China

Conclusions

Web sites


One Saturday morning

browsing a bookshop

for “Japanese” books an

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 MA Fine Art Summer Show last year (2012) had a critique by international artist Suki Chan. Georgette has a Chinese based project and Suki mentioned this book as one to research. I had already read the book so here I am to reveal all! I did contact both Gavin and the publisher. The publisher sent a set of slides, just pictures, no notes! I have used a few that are marked (GM).

The author – Gavin Menzies

The author – Gavin Menzies

According to Wikipedia (05/01/2013):Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies (born 14 August 1937) is a British author and retired submarine lieutenant-commander. He is best known for his controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, in which he asserts that the fleets of Chinese Admiral Zheng He visited the Americas prior to European explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, and that the same fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Menzies' second book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance extended his discovery hypothesis to the European continent. In his third book, The Lost Empire of Atlantis, Menzies claims that Atlantis did exist, in the form of the Minoan Civilization, and that it maintained a global seaborne empire extending to the shores of America and India, millennia before actual contact in the Age of Discovery.

Mainstream historians regard Menzies' theories and assertions as fictitious.

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'.

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 “rubbished” 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, astronavigationVisits to 900+ museums worldwide (3 called out)

• The British Museum

• The Shaanxi Historical Museum in Xian

• Museum of History in LimaNumerous 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 CaribbeanPuerto 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

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?

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 Waldseemüller. 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 21st 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:

• Trade goods

• Worthwhile scientific knowledge Henry V

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


15th 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 decksModels 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 grainDied on 24th 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 BeijingA 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 & deer horn powderRed 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

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

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.gavinmenzies.net/

Go take a look if this has sparked an interest

There are web sites that attack the book.

Try this for some balance:

http://www.1421exposed.com/

These slides are available online

I have put a version of these slides on SlideShare – a free resource

Search: slideshare missenp 1421

http://www.slideshare.net/missenp/1421-talk-for-portsmouth-university

1421 talk for portsmouth university

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