Move over Christopher Columbus, Admiral Zheng He is here

CFP ^ | March 11, 2005 | Judi McLeod

[etcetera]

China has long considered Canada a breakaway province and has threatened military action should independence be declared. 8-)

[Bluegrass Conservative]

I still maintain, how can you "discover" a place that has inhabitants? Methinks some group of nomadic Mongols discovered North American many centuries before either one of these guys on a landbridge through the Bering Sea.

[bahblahbah]

Who cares, apparently the Chinese didn't find it good enough to come back. Leif Erikson was here too in 1000 AD and that really doesn't matter either. People actually came back after Columbus.

[An Old Marine]

Huh, So what...

[Sthitch]

I have read 1421: The Year China Discovered the World and he did not say that Zheng He discovered North America, he did speculate that another admiral might have. He offered some evidence, but it was not anything that is too convincing, mostly pottery and weaving styles found in South America that were similar to those found in China.

[AmishDude]

I still maintain, how can you "discover" a place that has inhabitants?

Because those who were there didn't know where they were. They had no maps and no conception of the outside world. It's not a mere matter of existence.

[bahblahbah]

What about the Phoenicians?

http://phoenicia.org/brazil.html

[An Old Marine]

Who cares, apparently the Chinese didn't find it good enough to come back. Leif Erikson was here too in 1000 AD and that really doesn't matter either. People actually came back after Columbus.

And the Irish were probably here around 800 AD. As you said, Columbus made something of it the others are interesting historical footnotes.

[G.Mason]

Hillarity put me in touch with Christopher Columbus and he told me that he is unconcerned about this.

Seems he is off on new explorations in the galaxy, where he is being paid a hefty stipend by the representatives of the astronauts that planted the flag on Mars.

[satchmodog9]

Since the Indians have dna from Asian and European ancestors, it doesn't really matter who came here third. Columbus started the colonization process and that is what really matters.

[gdani]

Because those who were there didn't know where they were

Heh. Columbus didn't know where he was either.

[AmishDude]

Indeed, but at least he remembered the way to get there!

[dmz]

Absolutely. Colonization and discovery are 2 very different things.

[Captain Rhino]

I also recall reading somewhere that English and Irish fishermen were regularily visiting the Grand Banks off of Nova Scotia and New England prior to 1492 and were certainly aware of the land mass just beyond the fishing grounds to the west. However, they kept that secret to themselves because, well, they're fishermen...

However, what does that matter? Phonecian, Irish, Scandinavian, Chinese exploration fleets, fishermen, may have all visited portions of the Western Hemisphere. They came, they saw, they didn't do much about it.

It was only after Colombus that permanent contact was established between the Western Hemisphere and Europe (and the rest of the world later on).

BTW, Semper Fi!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

It has massive walls…and it’s two-thirds the size of the Forbidden City…Walls, roads, the remains of foundations, graves, God-knows what.

And it's invisible.

Wonder if he found their Pacific Fleet base yet?

[Malsua]

You know this is a load of BS.

The Article said Zheng He was 8 foot tall.

He's Chinese. Ever see an 8 foot Tall Chinaman? Even Yao is only 7'6".

[Paleo Conservative]

No one ever had to discover America again after Columbus discovered it.

[BBell]

An interesting article. I can't wait until they reveal this City to the public.

[massgopguy]

China has 800 missiles pointed at Taiwan. How many DF-41's will be pointed at Canada? Too bad they don't want anything to do with our NMD. Chun Hi HO.