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Chinese map claims to back theory that China discovered America
AFP ^ | 1/17/06

Posted on 01/17/2006 5:00:33 PM PST by presidio9

Chinese map collecter has found a copy of an ancient map he claims proves controversial theories that famed Chinese mariner Zheng He was the first person to discover America and circumnavigate the world.

Liu Gang said the map supports the recent theories that Chinese discovered America before Christopher Columbus and charted parts of the world such as Antartica and northern Canada long before Western explorers.

"The map shows us that Chinese discovered the world 70 years before Columbus," Liu said in a public unveiling of the chart. "The map tells us that Zheng He discovered the world."

The map is dated to 1763 but is also clearly marked that it is a copy of a map made in 1418. That date coincides with Zheng He's voyages, which spanned from 1405-1432.

Liu bought the map for about 500 dollars from a map collector in Shanghai in 2001, but only realized its importance after he read Gavin Menzies' best-selling book: "1421: The Year China Discovered The World".

In the book Menzies theorizes that previously undiscovered world maps drawn up by Zheng He's admirals were copied by European map makers and were extensively used during the voyages of great Western explorers, including Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco Da Gama and James Cook.

Much of Menzies' theories are supported by his knowledge of ocean currents, continental trade winds and star navigation that he learned during his life as a British naval commander.

Despite its prominence on best-seller lists, many historians have criticized Menzies' theories for the lack of accompanying evidence.

China's Ming Dynasty banned ocean-going exploration and trade on pain of death after Zheng He's final voyage, largely due to the death of Emperor Zhu Di, who sponsored the voyages.

The huge costs of Zheng's fleets, which often numbered hundreds of ships, were another factor.

The Chinese records of Zheng He's voyages have largely been lost, either purposely destroyed as part of the ban on ocean-going navigation or due to a fires that ravaged Beijing's imperial palace in the 1420s.

Liu expressed his belief that a lot of the records still exist, but Chinese scholars have largely ignored them.

"I sincerely believe that other maps exist and books exist (that contain evidence of Zheng He's world travels) but no-one has been paying attention to them," Liu said. "It is my purpose to try to wake these (scholars) up."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 1421; 1492; ageofsail; ancientnavigation; china; christophercolumbus; columbus; columbusday; columbusohio; commoncore; commoncorenavigation; discovery; gavinmenzies; godsgravesglyphs; lasiodermaserricorne; leifericson; navigation; newworld; shroudofturin; tobaccobeetle; zheng; zhenghe
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To: A. Goodwin

"I'm a little skeptical."

Yeah - all the rivers - esp the ones in Alaska and Siberia - they must of had jet boats and lots of fuel to explore them ... and how did they miss the Amazon?


41 posted on 01/17/2006 6:08:34 PM PST by Bobibutu
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To: muawiyah
The story that the Chinese didn't know what to do with gunpowder is in error.
They went straight from fireworks and flash powder to large rockets which
carried explosive loads used in warfare.


Citation please.
If James Burke and more than a few documentaries are all wet,
I'd like to know more.
Thanks in advance.
42 posted on 01/17/2006 6:18:50 PM PST by VOA
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To: VOA
Plenty of stuff on the net regarding the development of the cannon, gunpowder, and rockets.

Check this site, and then do your own searches: http://www.spacetoday.org/China/ChinaHistory.html

43 posted on 01/17/2006 6:54:12 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: Brilliant
Another thought. Did you ever hear of Mongolian Deer Stones?

See: http://ancientmongolia.com/ . Now, check this: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=stonehead%20indiana&sa=N&tab=wi

The first image was erected somewhere in Mongolia circa 1000 BC. The second image (which has been "maintained and enhanced" by modern artists) was "there", in place, in Story, Indiana, when the first Europeans penetrated the area in or about 1542 (see: DeSoto).

The only well-known spot in North America North of Mexico to find surface "gold" easily is right there at "Stone Head" on Salt Creek. Whenever DeSoto asked the Indians where the gold was, they'd point in the direction of "Stone Head". Even in the Far West, this spot was known.

I'm wondering very seriously now if "Stone Head" at Story, Indiana is a Mongolian "deer stone".

I'd earlier thought this artifact had been carved by the Sa'ami settlers who moved into the area about 1835. But, maybe not.

So, you asked how it is that elements of North America's interior got added to the Ming (Mongol) Dynasty Map used or prepared by Admiral He. Maybe the Ming (Mongol) had that information all alone!

44 posted on 01/17/2006 7:01:43 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: redpoll
Hmmmmm ~ generations of stories. How about the Aztec story about the bearded teacher?

That's a good one to start with. Then there's the "force" behind the beginnings of the great structures at Caholia. You betcha' a bunch of junks sailing up the Mississippi to St. Louis would have stirred 'em up. Hiawatha, the Great Law Giver, walked the Earth among the Iriquois. (These things are in the same time-fame.)

45 posted on 01/17/2006 7:04:32 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: presidio9
The map also shows Atlantis in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. A new world map from the late 1600s.

Vs. Chinese map 'copied' in the 1700's.

Here is one from 1569. This is an outline of a more detailed map.


46 posted on 01/17/2006 7:34:00 PM PST by CJ Wolf (BTW can someone add 'zot' to the FR spellchecker?)
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To: presidio9

Thanks for the ping!


47 posted on 01/17/2006 10:01:02 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: presidio9
Cheng Ho (or "Zheng He" if you prefer hanyu pinyin to Wade-Giles, which I don't) was a great guy and China's best ever admiral, bar none. But his famous voyages emphatically were not voyages of discovery. After all, outside the Middle Kingdom, there is nothing worth discovering.

They were voyages of diplomacy. Send lots of huge ships, impress the locals, collect tons of tribute. So he mostly went where there were known to be locals to impress. In almost all his voyages, he followed existing trade routes largely pioneered by the Indians and (later) the Arabs. The one exception was that he may have sailed down the East coast of Africa beyond the normal routes, and perhaps even rounded the Cape. But America? No way.

The map, by the way, is a fraud. It shows California as an island, which means it was copied from a European map of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, which are the only maps with that error. My guess is that the John Speed map of 1627 was the original, but another likely candidate is the Moll world map of 1695.

48 posted on 01/17/2006 10:05:11 PM PST by John Locke
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To: presidio9

What sources are you referencing that claim Romans visited the Americas multiple times during the time of Christ and Augustus?


49 posted on 01/17/2006 11:23:10 PM PST by Olmec Head (Ancient Romans in America?)
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To: Olmec Head

Try a Google search on "Roman shipwreck
Brasil" for starters.


50 posted on 01/21/2006 1:34:55 AM PST by presidio9 (Mister Trouble never comes around when he hears this Mighty sound)
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the detatched 'california' is pretty corny. my fake would have shown it correctly (if I were going to make one)

makes me think of the guy who faked all those mormon documents. he was quite clever in what he did at first. then he got too damn greedy for his own good. what a jackass


51 posted on 01/21/2006 1:44:49 AM PST by KneelBeforeZod (Someday a real rain will come and wipe this scum off the streets.)
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To: Olmec Head

Romans In Brazil During The Second Third Century?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1038045/posts


52 posted on 01/21/2006 1:54:13 AM PST by endthematrix (None dare call it ISLAMOFACISM!)
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53 posted on 10/09/2006 9:06:09 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (If I had a nut allergy, I'd be outta here. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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54 posted on 07/11/2011 7:05:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Yes, as a matter of fact, it is that time again -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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