Did the Chinese discover America?

CNN ^ | January 13, 2003 | Adam Dunn

[NP-INCOMPLETE]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- In his new book, "1421: The Year China Discovered America" (William Morrow), Gavin Menzies claims that a massive Chinese fleet of huge junks and support ships made a two-year circumnavigation of the globe, with extensive exploration of the Americas, nearly a century before Magellan and Columbus.

[blam]

Statue found in Olmec ruins.

[blam]

Statue found in Olmec ruins

[Ed_in_NJ]

America was invented by Al Gore - in 1979.

[blam]

Statue found in Olmec ruins.

[PatrioticAmerican]

nop, just Seattle.

[blam]

OOPS! This statue was found in Olmec ruins also....complicates things a bit.

[roadcat]

"Proof of which exploration program was important, and which was not: imagine if these Chinese expeditions had never taken place. Would the world be any different today? No; we would hardly notice the difference. The Chinese treasure fleets changed nothing; they are a footnote in history; impressive, but still just a footnote. Now, imagine if the European explorations had never happened. The entire history of the world, for all nations, would be radically altered. That is the difference."

Over 30 years ago one of my history professors talked at length about the evidence left behind, that Chinese had visited North America and intermingled with the locals. However, this evidence led all the way back to the early 600's (around 609 A.D.). A lot of records exist in China from that era, about visits to Mexico (of course it wasn't called that at the time!) and descriptions of the pottery and plant life etc. Some similarities exist between the two cultures, in language, stories, etc. But in the end, none of this amounted to much. It was the Spanish who exploited their journeys to the new lands.

I also remember that the Spanish made their big push up California because of fears that the English and Russians would exploit it first. The Spanish founded their fort in San Francisco to stop the Russians encroachment (about 40 miles north of SF). The Russians didn't care, all they wanted was seals and fish, and they pulled back. Same was probably true of the Chinese a long time ago. They visited Mexico and didn't think about exploitation and went home.

[blam]

Calico: A 200,000-Year Old Site In The Americas?

[John Locke]

Bump for Admiral Cheng Ho:

And you're right about all this being forgotten. There is a small statue of Cheng Ho in a temple in Malacca. When I visited it, I coudn't find anybody else who knew who he was. Most of the Chinese there thought he was Buddha!

[SunkenCiv]

A Blast from the Past.

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