Salt Lake Tribune | 2003-02-09 | Page 53

The Salt Lake Tribune BOOKS Sunday, February 9, 2003 D7 1421’ Makes a Compelling Case for Chinese Exploration of New World BYJOHN KEAHEY “intellectual paradise.” THESALT LAKETRIBUNE Many ofus, reared in the Western world and ingrained in Euro-centric culture, customs and traditions, often do not look beyond the conven tional western wisdom that Columbus,orearlier Europeans,discovered the New World. Weperiodically hear reports that Norsemensailed to the east coast of what is now Canada, and perhaps Menzies maintainsthat not onlydid the Chi nese junks that set sail in 1421 reach the east coast of Africa, they also sailed aroundthe Cape of Good Hope, its southerntip, 66 years before Portuguesesailor Bartolomeu Dias wasthe first European to do so. The Chinese, following counter-clockwisecurrents in the South Atlantic, rounding the Horn ofAfrica on that continent’s west coast and eventually reaching the fore the Genoese explorer made landfall on the east coastofthe North American continent seven decades before Columbus. They didn’t stop there, Menzies says. He be- Columbus's legacy is based documented journeys that opened lieves they foraged their way downthe east coast of South America, passed through evento the U.S. eastern seaboard, centuries becontinent's outer rimin 1492. on well what later became known to Eu- the doorto colonizationofthe New World. This historical record rises above scraps of incomplete records and legends that populate our shadowy past. But a new book, ropeans as the Straits of Magellan and upthe may shatter Westerners’ precon- way up the S where accieccieal evidence ceptions of who camefirst. points to a Chinese presence. All Gavin Menzies, a retired Brit- 2 ish submarine commander and self-proclaimed “mere amateur” historian, has published 1421: The Year China Discovered America this happened decades before Euans Cook, Magellan and more than a decadein the making, the outside world, other nations took up the torch.” Traditional historians, who acknowledge the existence of this great fleet of exploration, be- lieve Zheng He's junks only madeit to the east coast of Africa, leaving the rest of the western world to be discovered by Europeans. Menzies evidence is strong but whetherit stands depends on the outcome of continuing debate. Menzies contends the Europeans used maps drawn by Venetians who had access to Chinese wane that survived the successor emperor’s burning of records. In fact, Menzies says the whole world appeared on charts before Europe- major rivers, such as the Sacramento and the Mississippi, penetrating North America’s heart land. He suspects that at several points,theyleft behind handfuls of colonists who would have been abandoned and forgotten when the new emperor stopped all voyages ofexploration. One wonders what would have happened if China's era of exploration had continued and these farflung colonies, if they truly existed, had been replenished. 1421is richlyillustrated, and Menzies’ docu. mentation is extensive. The case he makes is compelling. Still, his premise is being challenged bytraditional historians and some Chinese historians. Whether he is proved correct will have to standthetest of further research. But Menzies has succeeded in triggering a debate andforcing ans even setsail. He also relates descriptions that some European explorers (Verazzano, Coronado and even Columbus himself) made of Chinese-appearing people discovered in these a reconsideration of everything we Westerners have held sacred. new lands — VancouverIsland in present-day British Columbia, several Caribbean islands, the area around present-day Boston and RhodeIs- us how much more advanced Chinese scientists | and philosophers were at a time Western Europe i wasstill shaking off the cobwebs of the Dark | land, southern California and a Chinese colony in Peru. The author maintains the Chinese sailed up The bookislively reading. It provides a short course in Medieval Chinese history and shows Ages. john. [e-mail] first, Menzies maintains. (William Morrow, January 2003). Helaysout, in exacting butlively Ironically, as the ships launched their two-year exploration of the known and unknown detail, how a massive Chinese fleet world under commandof the royal — madeupof junks, each with a sundance eunuch Zheng He, the rein of emperor Zhu Di was nearing an end, crew of1,000 and five times larger than Columbus’stiny ships — e made their historic expediand took credit for being tions never have existed. As China turned its back on its glorious maritime and scientific heritage and retreated into a long,self-imposed isolation from set sail in the waning years of an enlightened Chi- and within three y a yearafter the fleet had returned with only seven nese emperor’s reign. Atthetime,(the 11thto 13th centuries) China CATALOG OUTLET STORE ships remaining ZhuDi's son and successor orderedall such voy- was thirsty for knowledge andprinting books 30 years before Gutenberg printed the Bible. “Although Europe was on the eveofthe Renaissance that was to transform its culture andscientific knowledge,it lagged far behind China,” writes Menzies, whodescribes Beijing of the time as an “The ships that had made those voyageswere left to rot and were never re- placed. Thelogs and records weredestroyed and the memory of them expunged so completely over the succeeding decades that they might ABS THE ARTS C.CRAFTS chaels ALL 20% OFF Poster Frames THE Lowest MARKED PRICE Dozens c eo wus | MHF 10-7; Sar 10-6; SUN 12-5 )18LIMITED TO QUANTITIES ON HAND. cremabaconat moans BED BATH & BEYOND Beyond anystore ofits kind. Come celebrate our newstore located in LAYTON. WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD. GUARANTEED! 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