By Fred Delkin

An incredible research exercise provides convincing evidence that Chinese mariners were the first to chart the world’s oceans, decades before European voyages of discovery. British Royal Navy veteran Gavin Menzies delivers a fact-filled 1421..the Year China Discovered America. The title refers to the year when "the largest fleet the world had ever seen" set sail to 
deliver a Ming emperor’s commission "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth" to unite ‘barbarians’ in appreciation of Chinese culture and to stimulate trade. 

Proceed they did, charting as they went paths that European explorers would later follow. This text, first published in Great Britain in 2002 and now distributed in the U.S. by HarperCollins, is both fascinating and convincing, backed by a postscript, appendix and notes totaling 210 pages
that provide a wealth of documentation. Menzies has personally visited or contacted over 900 museums and libraries on six continents since his retirement from the Royal Navy. While still in his country’s service, he commanded a submarine which sailed most of the routes his writing
covers. 

Menzies lived in China as a youth and has a remarkable grasp of Chinese history. The Great Fleets that charted the world’s oceans included monstrous Junks 489 feet long and 180 feet abeam, with sails of red silk furled from nine masts per vessel. These leviathans were surrounded
by a host of merchant junks, each some 90 feet long. The perimeter of these vast convoys had squadrons of fast, manoeuvrable warships. Yet the guiding philosophy behind these expeditions was sired by Confucious and was peaceable.

Asian voyages set a precedent

Prior to setting sail to explore the world, the Ming dynasty had become a commanding presence aroud the rim of the Indian Ocean, with rulers outside China paying obeisance to the Chinese court in Beijing. Chinese emperor Zhu Di provided funding and purposes for the armadas comissioned to sail the planet’s seas. Admiral in charge was Zheng He, who had guided previous fleets in promoting trade and Chinese influence in Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East.

These armadas had sufficient ships to cover detailed charting of previously unknown waters. They also carried Asian native flora and fauna which were used to establish a lasting presence in far corners of the globe, which Menzies’ research documents. Crew members, both male and female, were left behind to establish colonies along the armada routes and whose DNA can be found today in populace of both the Americas, whose natives, according to Menzies’ research,  interrelated with Chinese colonists. 

This historical investigation continues to be reported on the internet (www.1421.tv). Pacific Northwest sites where evidence has been unearthed from ancient unidentified shipwrecks includes Nea-kah-nie beach in Oregon and the Queen Charlotte Islands off the British Columbia coast. Log in for ongoing updates.

A major portion of the facts Menzies has unearthed were lost for centuries, due in large part to the fall of the Ming dynasty in late 1423 that left China in economic and political chaos. China began a self-ifmposed isolation that spanned many, many generations and records of the armadas’ explorations and their charts were destroyed. Yet there is clear evidence that Chinese
ships reached America 70 years before Columbus and circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. As Menzies states: "to assert the primacyof the Chinese exploration of the New World and Australia is not to denigrate...the exploits of such as Columbus, Magellan and Cook, but it is now time to honor other men who have been allowed to languish in obscurity for too long...they were the first, bravest and most daring...those who followed them...were sailing in their wake."

Read Menzies’ tome, access his website and you will find your grasp of history may be radically altered.

© 2006 Oregon Magazine