Posted on 07/21/2004 10:00:24 AM PDT by SteveH
1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED AMERICA?
1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED AMERICA?, airing on PBS Wednesday, July 21, investigates a theory that could turn the conventional view of world history on its head: the startling possibility that a daring Chinese admiral, commanding the largest wooden armada ever built, reached America 71 years before Columbus.
The documentary examines the mystery surrounding China's legendary Zheng He and the spectacular Ming fleet of treasure junks he commanded in the early 15th century. The special provides a history of the known journeys of Zheng He's fleet and an account of new information uncovered by Gavin Menzies, a former British submarine commander who has spent nine years trying to prove that Zheng He reached America decades before Columbus. Menzies, author of the best-selling book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, has assembled evidence that he believes substantiates his theory.
The first part of the documentary presents 15th-century China as an emerging super-nation with an armada of treasure junks that dominated the Indian Ocean. At the behest of Chinese emperor Zhu Di, Zheng He sailed this fleet to far-flung outposts throughout the eastern hemisphere, established major ports and extended the commercial reach of "the Middle Kingdom" far beyond its previous bounds. The first segment recounts this story through re-enactments, extensive location filming and innovative computer graphics imaging models of the fleet itself.
1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED AMERICA? then investigates the major historical mystery that arises from Menzies' theory: Could this incredible and intrepid fleet have shown the European explorers the way to the west - reaching America's shores decades before Columbus? Menzies seeks to prove his extraordinary theory by retracing the steps he believes the Chinese took from Africa to Europe to the Caribbean and along the eastern coast of the United States. The program examines the evidence behind his theory, then puts it to the test, drawing together historical accounts, archaeology and information from consultations with contemporary historians, archaeologists and scientists. The results are often dramatic and - like Menzies' theory itself - highly controversial.
*ping*
"a theory that could"
Four words that usually precede the rewriting of history.
The problem with Chinese explorers is that after you explore you want to explore again soon after.
It's been said that history is rewritten by the conquerer.
What, is China trying to get a little head-start?
I was under the impression that the Western hemisphere had been discovered almost 20,000 years earlier by nomads.
Otherwise no one would have been living here when the chinese/spanish arrived :)
So why aren't there pogodas throughout California.
Columbus told the world about the results of his exploration and it changed the world. The Chinese may have gotten here before him - and after the Vikings - but their arrival is only meaningful as a curiousity. Columbus' expedition, and those who followed him, mattered.
A number of South American early cultures have markedly Asian looking art and jade figures and ornaments..a number of scupted heads that look very oriental. Personally, I think early man traveled far more extensively than we imagine, and in the absence of satellite dishes and cell phones ended up in places from which they couldn't return home.
Chinese discover America. Decide it is not worth mentioning.
Don't order number 3 it tastes like number 2.
There are many places where China claims to have been there "first." The problem is that is the excuse used to occupy those places...
So thats why we have so many chinese eateries on the wast coast. LOL
Ops4 God BLess America!
I think chirac discovered America when he was a young man 700 years ago.
I personally believe that many explorers got here throughout the centuries. Columbus got here a few decades after the invention of the printing press. Timing matters.
Whoop de doo. Didn't Leif Erikkson discover America before even that? Like him, even if this story is true, it amounts to Jack and Spit. Nothing came of Erikkson's trip, and if this is true, then nothing came of the Chinese's trip. Something, however, DID come of Columbus' voyage. That's the only thing that matters.
All I did was ping blam to the thread. Where have I given ANY opinion about it? blam happens to be a history buff.
Hadn't heard that one...muslim explorers discovered America, eh?
And I bet Apollo astronauts found Islamic black battle flags on the Moon in '69, and we're keeping it a secret.
Sorry. I meant to respond to post 1, not yours, which is 2.
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