Posted on 05/16/2005 3:26:15 AM PDT by SteveH
Who came first, Chinese or Columbus?
DANA SANCHEZ
Herald Staff Writer
SARASOTA - A local company could help rewrite history if it can prove, using DNA testing, that Chinese explorers landed in the New World about 70 years before Columbus.
But it's going to take money - up to $2 million in research funding - to test a hypothesis that hasn't been popular.
Sarasota-based DNAPrint genomics plans to make a presentation Monday at the U.S. Library of Congress Symposium in Washington, D.C., commemorating the 600th anniversary of Chinese Admiral Zheng He's first voyage.
Zheng He was a Ming Dynasty explorer who undertook expeditions between 1405 and 1433 with a fleet of 200 ships and 28,000 crew members.
Among the speakers at the symposium will be Gavin Menzies, author of a controversial book published in 2003 titled "1421: The Year China Discovered America."
DNAPrint genomics hopes to use DNA samples from Native Americans and its technology for measuring genetic ancestry to try to answer the question.
"Gavin Menzies has been harshly criticized," said Tony Frudakis, founder of DNAPrint genomics. "Many in the academic community don't believe him. We don't much care. We're not on one side or the other. We thought we could bring something to this discussion."
The company uses genome research to provide consumer products such as DNA testing for family heritage and forensic tools for analyzing crime scene evidence.
During drug development research over the past two years, the company noticed Native Americans showed substantial east Asian ancestry through genetic signatures, Frudakis said.
No one knows for sure how indigenous people got here, said Philip Levy, an assistant professor of history at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Some scholars propose multiple waves of migration from Asia to North America across the Bering Strait dating back 20,000 years.
"I don't think anybody thinks that Columbus was the first European," Levy said. "He was not. History is constantly being rewritten."
But whether the Chinese came or not, textual and archaeological evidence point to a massive European arrival as the agent for change in the Americas, Levy said.
"I'm very leery of any research agenda that would try to jeopardize indigenous claims to being the first people here," Levy said.
DNAPrint hopes to garner enough interest at the symposium to generate research funding.
"There's not much commercial value to answering this question except maybe in the drug development scenario," Frudakis said. "There's no more than a historical interest here."
At the same time, he said, it would be a worthwhile project to invest time in, "if we have the funding."
DNA research on the migration of indigenous people is an important area of need, Levy said.
"The DNA project itself is a compelling one," Levy said. "I would never want to discourage the research taking place."
But DNAPrint is not an academic institution.
"We're a company," Frudakis said. "We have to get to profitability as soon as we can."
DNAPrint is publicly traded on the OTC bulletin board under the symbol DNAP.
The company is worth about $10 million.
Friday's stock was trading at 15 cents per share, with close to a billion shares outstanding.
The company will vote on doing a reverse stock split at its next stockholders' meeting in June, Frudakis said.
Dana Sanchez, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 4500 or at dsanchez@HeraldToday.com.
Tell you what, gummint, give me 2 million dollars and I'll save you the trouble: they're gonna find some sort of Chinese ancestry. Because the original folks over the ice were from ASIA, and most of THOSE folks have been Chinese for centuries.
t'aint who came first, it's who came BACK and stayed.
There were people such as the Vikings visiting North America long before Columbus and the 15th century. Others were already living here. What's this company going to prove that we don't already know?
Muslims discovered America !!!
Because Zheng He was a Muslim Enuch.
Oh, wait. Did I mess up the PC thinking? Was I supposed to admire the Chinese for the great achievement of getting here first? Is it a faux pas to make fun of them for doing absolutely nothing with the discovery? My bad.
Indeed. The title is stunningly ignorant. Almost made me spill my coffee.
Oh! No! The ChiCOMs will now lay claim to the North/South America, like they claim Taiwan. s/off.
I thought WalMart came first. Hmmmm.....
Injuns.
Anyone want to claim the vikings to be first, next?
What will china do next? Claim America as territory of China? They are going down the toilet if they ever do that.
A chicken and an egg are reclining in a bed together, Barry White music playing in the backround. The chicken has an embarrassed expression while the egg gives it a disgusted look.
Then the egg says: " Well at least I guess we answered THAT question".
The Mexicans basically claim much of the Southwest, and are actively invading as we speak, yet nothing is done to stop them.
"t'aint who came first, it's who came BACK and stayed."
Exactly - about 400 years earlier, St. Brendan the Navigator is said to have reached North America. Also, various parties of Vikings dropped in on our continent. However, it wasn't until Columbus came that the door was really opened to colonization. Which gets to the heart of the matter. No guilt will be heaped on our friend St. Brendan or the Vikings because they did not bring Western culture to the New World in any real lasting form. However, with Columbus came the Christianization of these lands. For that, he can never be forgiven by the Liberal anti-Christian bigots.
Therefore, they will do anything in their power to condemn and deface him.
What will they prove...That any hypothesis will provide research funds. I always look at the "disagreeing" researcher who also gets funded. It's just a big loop.
Took a couple of seconds (no pun intended) but I got it!!
I read parts of his book out of curiosity. The whole book is laughable. He goes out of his way looking for any possible connection that can prove his hypothesis while completely ignoring all those that prove him dead wrong. IIRC, his best link was some textile patterns in South America are similar to ones in China.
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