1421: The Year China Discovered the World
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European explorers referred to earlier maps made before they set sail – contemporary accounts of Columbus, Dias, Cabral, da Gama and Magellan’s voyages are the evidence.
Continents shown on maps before European explorers set sail for that particular region: North America – shown on Waldseemüller, Cantino and Caverio charts
Caribbean – Pizzigano, Cantino, Caverio and Waldseemüller
South America – Piri Reis, Cantino and Waldseemüller
Africa, India and East – Cantino, Jean Rotz, Fra Mauro, Waldseemüller and Kangnido
Antarctica – Piri Reis and Francesco Roselli
Arctic and Siberia – Waldseemüller (1507)
Australia – Jean Rotz, Desliens, Vallard, Desceliers
China and Far East – Jean Rotz
Canada (Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands) – Zatta
Straits of Magellan – Waldseemüller (Small Globes)
South Africa – Fra Mauro, Kangnido and Da Ming Yi Tu
The great rivers of the world were shown on the key charts long before Europeans set sail The Martellus Maps (1489), Gallez, P. and Davis, H.
South America:
Colombia – Magdalena
Venezuela – Orinoco (Meta)
Brazil – Amazon, São Francisco
Paraguay – Paraguay, Paraná
Argentina – Colorado, Negro, Chubut (Patagonia)
Cantino (1502)
South America:
Colombia – Magdalena
Venezuela – Apure, Orinoco (Cavra)
Waldseemüller (1507)
Siberia: Ob, Yenisei, Kotuy, Olenek, Lena, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma
North America: Mississippi, Brazos, Alabama, Roanoke, Delaware, Hudson
Toscanelli (1474)
Australia: Murray, Darling, Cooper, Diamantina, Flinders
Straits of Magellan/Patagonia ‘Dragon’s Tail’ (1428 chart) and its giants described on anon. (Durand 1440) and Walsperger (1448), and shown on Waldseemüller globe.
Correlations between charts of the world before Europeans set sail and the 1428 master chart of the world Waldseemüller (1507), Cantino (1502) and Caverio (1505). These three draw the Great Bahamas Bank identically and as it would have appeared in 1421 with water levels one fathom lower than today. However, the earlier charts have features which do not appear on later ones, viz. Waldseemüller shows Pacific coast of America, the later ones do not; the (earlier) Cantino shows Florida, the later Caverio does not. The three charts must therefore be based on an earlier original.
Anon. (Durand 1440) and Walsperger (1448). Both refer to Tierra del Fuego as the ‘Dragon’s Tail’, the name given by the 1428 master. Both refer in identical terms to the Giants of Patagonia, hence must have a common source.
Desliens, Desceliers, Vallard and Jean Rotz all show Australia with great similarity – but each has original features, e.g. Vallard has horses. All must have been based on an earlier original that was subsequently lost.
Waldseemüller and Martellus (1489). Both show the Cape of Good Hope at 45°S and the same ‘dogleg’, ‘India Meridionales’, in the east. The Waldseemüller shows South America, the Martellus does not. Both must have been based on an earlier original.
Piri Reis and Pizzigano are linked by Columbus’s description (note on Piri Reis) of Antilia (on Pizzigano).
Anon. (Durand 1440), Walsperger (1448) and Piri Reis 1513 (1501) are linked by descriptions of the giants of Tierra del Fuego and of Columbus’ description of two hours’ daylight (Piri Reis).
Waldseemüller (1507), Cantino (1502) and Piri Reis 1513 (1501) are linked by their drawings of Arecibo (Venezuela).
These maps between them chart the entire world. They must, because of the links, have been based on an earlier original which must have been made before 1440 (Durand) and after 1423 (Pizzigano).
Links connecting the charts with the Chinese The charts described below were published before Europeans reached that particular part of the world.
Jean Rotz: depiction of China, Australia and Hong Kong; link – kangaroos in Chinese emperor’s zoo
Martellus (1489): the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers; link – Chinese DNA is found among American Indian peoples there, pre-Columbus (Arends and Gallengo)
Piri Reis (1501): link – animals unique to Patagonia are shown and are also to be seen in The Chinese Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (1430). Description of the mylodon in Chinese records.
Anon. (Durand 1440), Walsperger (1448) and 1428 chart: link – description of the giants found in Patagonia and described in The Chinese Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (1430). The name ‘Dragon’s Tail’ is found in the three charts, denoting Tierra del Fuego.
Cantino: link – longitude of East Africa almost perfect (± 30 miles). The Chinese alone could determine longitude at that time.
Cantino, Waldseemüller and Caverio: Arecibo; link – Venezuelan tribes have Chinese DNA (Arends and Gallengo)
Chinese cartography and transmission of maps to the West The author contends Europeans could ‘translate’ Chinese maps into ones understandable to Europeans. Australia appeared on Father Ricci’s map (1589) and on Hessel Gerrit’s chart (1618 – Seville) (M. Righton); the Pacific from Vancouver to ‘the Straits of Magellan’ appeared on the Waldseemüller (1507) before Balboa ‘discovered’ the Pacific; the Amazon appeared on the Piri Reis (1513 [1501]) before Orellana ‘discovered’ the river.
The author contends the Chinese had the best cartographers in the world prior to the Renaissance – witness: Chang Heng (AD 78–139), flat surface grid system (Bob Butcher’s evidence); Phei Hsiu (224–71), grid system; Phei Chu (605), classic grid map; Chia Tan (730–805), map of empire; cartographer unknown (940), cylindrical projection (precursor of Mercator); cartographer unknown (1137), Yu Chi Thu stone map; cartographer unknown (1155), first Chinese printed map (predates European by two centuries); Chu Ssu Pen (1273–1337), map of China, Asia, Africa (with triangular shape) and Europe; Li Tse-Min and Ching-Chun (1328–92) expand on Chu Ssu Pen.
Star charts – Wu Pei Chi and Gan D. E. (Jupiter’s moons c. 200 BC)
China sends her maps to the West The author contends it was Chinese policy to send her maps to the West – otherwise how could countries reach China to pay tribute? Evidence:
Brazilian delegation setting sail for China in 1501/02 with map showing route (Professor Bi Quanzhong, evidence to Kunming Conference, 10 December 2002)
Chinese emperor’s order to send maps to West which resulted in Liu Daxia destroying all available records of Zheng He’s voyage (Professor Bi Quanzhong, evidence, 10 December 2002)
Niccolò da Conti as the intermediary between the Chinese and Europeans The author relies upon the evidence given in his book and that recently found in the Fujian Palace (Admiral Zheng Ming’s evidence to Kunming Conference, 10 December 2002). In the Fujian Palace, uncovered during runway-extension works at Fujian International airport, are statues of Zheng He and his admirals. Standing next to Zheng He, and closer to him than his admirals, is a European medieval merchant, as evidenced by his clothes and hat. The merchant carries documents/maps. The most likely explanation is that this statue is of Niccolò da Conti, who describes his passage from Calicut to China via Australia and who was in Calicut when the Chinese fleets arrived in 1421. His statue resembles the drawing in The Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (1430).
The Portuguese claim Antonio Galvão’s description of the world map which the Portuguese Dauphin Dom Pedro brought back with him from Venice in 1428: ‘Dom Peter, the King of Portugal’s eldest sonne, was a great traveller … came home by Italie, taking Rome and Venice in his way from where he brought a map of the world which had all the parts of the world and earth described. The Strait of Magellan was called in it “the dragon’s taile”: the Cape of Bona Sperancia, the forefront of Afrike and so forth.’
Galvão again: ‘It was told me by Francis de Sousa Tavares that in the year 1528 Don Fernando the King’s eldest son showed him a map
found in the study of the Alcobaza that had been made 120 years before which map set forth all the navigation of the East Indies, with the Cape of Bona Sperancia as our later maps have described it; whereby it appeareth that in ancient times that was as much or more discovered than there is now.’
So who drew the 1428 chart? It is the author’s claim that Dom Pedro debriefed Niccolò da Conti in Florence in 1424. Da Conti had sailed with the Chinese fleet from India to Australia and China (Travels of Niccolò da Conti).
3. Europeans set sail with accurate maps showing their destination.
Accounts of first European explorers to reach land it is claimed they discovered:
Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of the Americas.
Letter from Toscanelli to Columbus: ‘I notice your splendid and lofty desire to sail to the regions of the East by those of the West [i.e. to sail to China westabout] … as is shown by the chart which I send you …’ [chart is excerpt of Portuguese 1428 chart of world showing Antilia].
Letter from Toscanelli to the King of Portugal: ‘[before Christopher Columbus set sail] … from the island of Antilia known to you [Antilia is Puerto Rico, discovered by the Chinese in 1421] … to Cepangu [China].’
Columbus’s log, Wednesday, 24 October 1492 (when in west Atlantic): ‘I should steer west-south-west to go there [to reach Antilia] … and in the sphere which I have seen and in the drawings and mappae mundi it is in this region.’ Thus, according to Columbus, Caribbean islands appeared on Portuguese maps of the world (‘mappae mundi’) before Columbus set sail.
Cabral expedition to South America.
João de Barros, arriving on the first expedition to South America, writes to King Manuel of Portugal: ‘The lands might the king see represented on the Mappa Mundi whom Pero daz Bisagudo has.’ De Barros continues that the only difference between the Brazil the Portuguese have discovered in 1500 and the Brazil shown on Bisagudo [da Cunha] was whether or not Brazil was inhabited. Thus, Brazil had appeared on a Portuguese map before the first European expedition set forth.
Dias and da Gama rounding the Cape of Good Hope.
Dias’ chronicler describing their approach to Cape of Good Hope: ‘They came in sight of that Great and Famous Cape concealed for so many centuries …’ This is the Cape drawn on Fra Mauro’s planisphere of 1459 (Fra Mauro was working for the Portuguese government when making his planisphere). Thus, southern Africa appeared on Fra Mauro’s map, prepared for the Portuguese, before the first European expedition reached the Cape.
Magellan, ‘first circumnavigation of the world’.
On entering the ‘Straits of Magellan’, Magellan faced a mutiny, but he managed to quell it. ‘The Captain General said there was another Strait which led out [to the Pacific], saying he knew it well and had seen it in a marine chart of the King of Portugal … Later, Magellan, having crossed the Pacific, met the King of Limasarra.’ Note from Magellan’s chronicler: ‘And he [Magellan] shows him the marine chart … telling him how he had found the Strait to come hither.’ Thus, according to Magellan’s official chronicler, the so-called Straits of Magellan appeared on a Portuguese chart before Magellan set sail, as did the Pacific.
Cook’s ‘discovery’ of Australia and New Zealand.
The ‘Dauphin’ map (1536) showing Australia was owned by the First Lord of the British Admiralty Edward Harley. Dr Joseph Banks, who travelled with Captain Cook, bought it. Since Henry VIII’s day the British government had owned the Jean Rotz chart, which also showed Australia. Thus, Australia was known to the Admiralty from two sources before Captain Cook set sail.
Part II: Only the Chinese had the capacity to chart the world at that time
1. CHINESE RECORDS
Orders to sail 13 January 1421, to Yang Qing, sending him to ‘Hormuz and other places’ to present all foreign rulers with gifts (Shih – Erh – Yüeh Ch’u Shih Jih) – Professor Ptak
3 March 1421, to Zheng He, to ‘take the envoys’ (KC ch.17 p.1117; MC ch.10 p.99; MS ch.7 p.100; MTC ch.17 p.743) – Professor Ptak
10 November 1421, to Zheng He (now that Hong Bao is entrusted to return envoys …)
Dates of return 8 October 1423, Zhou Man with 93 men (YLSL ch.26 p.2401). Chan Cheng vol. I, p.165 – Professor Duyvendak, Dates, p. 385.
24 October 1423. Envoys of 16 countries, a total of 1,200 people, arrive with tribute (YLSL p.2403; KC ch.17, p.1205; TWL ch.36 p.69; MS ch.7 p.102 and ch.326 p.8440; KTTC ch.30 p.516) – Professor Ptak
1425 – by then part of Zheng He’s fleet has still not returned – Professor Zhu Jianqui (paper 24, Nanjing Conference, October 2002). Ming Record Xiang Chen Ming (Zhu Jian Qiu – Navy Ocean Research Institute, 28 November 2002)
One squadron lagged behind. Not back ZD23 (1426) – Director of Studies Ming History, Chinese Academy Social Sciences.
Author contends that the Chinese fleet could have circumnavigated the whole world four times between 1421 and 1426.
2. CHINESE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD IN 1421
Four major expeditions had been conducted by Zheng He, the first in 1405. Fleets had acted independently in voyages to Pacific, Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and Africa (Ma Huan).
Japan, Korea and central Asia had been known for centuries (Ma Huan).
Chinese had known of North and South Poles since 3rd century BC (Zhuangzi) and that the earth was round (para 9(b))
Australia had been known since AD 316 (para 9)
Americas known since 6th century AD. Fu Sang, the accounts of the monk Huei Sen, were entered in Chinese official records (Annals).
Three Chinese path-breaking books summarising knowledge of world (Martin Tai evidence): Knowledge of South China and Beyond (Lingwai Daida) by Qhou Qu Fei, 1178; Records of Foreign Peoples (Zhu Fan Zhi) by Zhao Ru Kua, 1225; Records of Overseas Countries and Peoples (Daoyi Zhilue) by Wang Da Yuan, 1349.
The Yuan traveller of the world – Wang Da Yuan – Barbarians of the Isles (includes Australia). T’oung Pao vol.16, 1915 (Martin Tai).
Chinese knowledge of Australia – Melchior Thevenot, Relations, 1663 (M. Righton)
British missionary to Beijing – map of Australia (Martin Tai)
Father Ricci’s 1589 map of Australia
Dong Fan Shue of Western Han dynasty reached North Pole in 132 BC (Beijing Morning News, 9 February 2003 – report of historian Ju de Yuan)
Trade with Spain: Zhao Ru Kua’s (1170–1228) Zhu Fan Zhi (description of various barbarians) has chapter on ‘Muranbi Kingdom’ = Al Murabitum (Kingdom of Spain) – Rock Hill (Martin Tai).
Author submits that by 1421 China knew of the whole world.
3. CHINESE CLAIMS AS TO WHERE ZHENG HE’S FLEETS SAILED
Worldwide – Zheng He’s evidence To ‘3,000 countries’ large and small (Duyvendak’s first translation). A voyage of 40,000 li (100,000 miles) recorded on stone memorials erected by Zheng He at Liu Shia Chang (31°07′N, 121°35′E) and Ch’ang Su (26°08′N, 119°35′E).
Further carved stone tablets at Malacca, Dondra Head (Ceylon), Calicut and the Malabar coast of India.
Master Bentou (Zheng He’s navigator) diaries (evidence of Kerson Huang), 1403–30.
Australia Zheng He’s passage chart which shows coral reef from NE Australian coast – Zhao Zhi Hua 1990 (Zhu Jian Qiu, November 2002) (Martin Tai translation).
Professor Wei Chu Hsieh, The Chinese Discovery of Australia.
Professor Liu Manchum, paper 26, Nanjing Conference (October 2002) – ‘Beira’ or ‘Sunla’ is Australia.
Ma Huan (Martin Tai evidence, 26 February 2003), Wang Da Huan/Barbarians of the Isles. T’oung Pao vol.16, 1915, Ropose = Australia, Marani = Darwin.
Records of kangaroos in Chinese emperor’s zoo.
Chinese knowledge of Australia – Melchior Thevenot, Relations, 1663 (M. Righton).
The Wu Pei Chi shows Australia (Sun Shuyun translation).
Reaching America Professor Liu Manchum (paper 26, Nanjing Conference, October 2002). Fleet reached ‘extremely far Beira’ [= America].
/> Professor Bi Quanzhong’s evidence to Kunming Conference (December 2002). Fleet reached Brazil – Brazil delegation to China.
The sailor Zayan’s claim to have sailed to America with Zheng He’s fleet (Professor Bi Quanzhong’s evidence).
Chinese pictorial record, The Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (I Yü Thu Chih), published 1430, which shows animals unique to South America, e.g. armadillos – Professor Wade’s collection.
Chinese pictorial record of herbs and plants known to China (published 1511) which includes plants unique to the Americas (e.g. peanuts) – Zhong Guo Ben Cao Quanshan (Key Sun’s evidence).
The Notebook of Wilderness by Ming dynasty writer Zu Yun Ming about the official delegation to China from Balazi = Brazil. Brazilians left in 1500 with Chinese map showing route (Martin Tai translation).
The Ming Shi history of the Ming Empire and The General Registry of Sea Countries by Shen Mao Shang which names Balazi (Brazil) as a place visited (Zhu Jian Qiu, Navy Ocean Survey – 28 November 2002) (Martin Tai translation).
The author submits that official Chinese records do claim Zheng He’s fleets reached Australia, America and Brazil. Their reinterpretation follows Professor Bi Quanzhong’s evidence to the Nanjing Conference. The author also contends that not only did the Chinese know of the whole world before 1421, the fleets were away for five years, long enough to circumnavigate the world four times, and they had the experience, expertise and ships to explore the globe.
Part III: Evidence of the voyages of Zheng He’s fleets
Key to the discoveries: the determination of latitude and longitude
The extraordinary precision of the southern portion of the Piri Reis map showing Patagonia’s coast, the Falklands, South Shetlands and South Sandwich Islands. Not only is the coast perfectly drawn but animals unique to South America – huemils, guanacos and the mylodon – appear. (They also appear in the I Yü Thu Chih – i.e. they were known to the Chinese before Europeans got to South America.)