The Piri Reis was drawn 400 years before Europeans reached Antarctica. It shows the Andes as far north as Ecuador. The precision of the Piri Reis coupled with the extent of the coastline from the equator to the Antarctic can only mean the cartography was carried out by people who could determine latitude even in the Antarctic with dozens of ships surveying simultaneously. This was achieved long before European explorers set sail for South America.
Who but the Chinese with six centuries of experience of ocean navigation could have reached the Antarctic? Chinese records claim their fleets reached both North Pole (30 claims) and South Pole (5 claims) (Professor Wei).
Do Chinese navigational and star charts provide the answer? The most notable is the Wu Pei Chi. The problem is the Wu Pei Chi has been amended over the years and not all the amendments were dated. Chinese sailing instructions (Wu Pei Chi) give the course to steer between Dondra Head (Ceylon) and Sumatra. By a very fortunate coincidence, this course is due east. The current latitude of their track is 06°N. However, Chinese navigators were advised to keep Polaris 1 chih above the horizon; this means there is a difference of 3°40′ between the position of Polaris in Wu Pei Chi and its position today. Using the Microsoft Starry Night computer program (which enables the position of the stars in the night sky to be determined every night for the past two millennia) enables us to date the Wu Pei Chi to 1420–30 (Polaris’s apparent position changes one degree every 175 years due to the earth’s precession.) Knowing the Wu Pei Chi date, we can compare the stars on it with the Starry Night program. We can also establish that near the ‘compass rose’ position shown on the Piri Reis (SW Falklands), Canopus is at 90° elevation. The reason the cartographers took such inordinate trouble surveying the coast of Patagonia is that they established the declination and right ascension of Canopus when it was above them. Chinese records reveal that the need to ‘fix’ the position of Canopus and the Southern Cross constellation had long preoccupied Chinese astronomers. Conference in Nanjing, October 2002, emphasised this preoccupation with Canopus; Kunming Conference (December 2002) emphasised the Chinese standard operating procedure of sailing directly beneath (90° altitude) selected stars. Knowing the position of Canopus, latitude in the southern hemisphere can be determined by cross-referencing Canopus with Polaris in the northern hemisphere.
These measurements gave the Chinese the capacity to chart the whole world, but where would they have been likely to do so? At 52°40′S, the declination of Canopus, all ships could keep the star right overhead, all thus surveying from the same base line. Evidence of the Chinese voyage is indeed found all the way across the world at 52°40′S, in Patagonia, Kerguelen and Campbell Island (which appears precisely drawn on the Jean Rotz). (Evidence of this method of sailing given by Chinese professors at Kunming Conference, December 2002.) At which other latitudes would it have been sensible to survey? Where Canopus disappeared below the horizon at 38°30′N (evidence is found at this latitude around the world) and at 3°20′N where Polaris disappeared below the horizon in 1421 (evidence of the Chinese voyage also found here).
For the determination of longitude, see Appendix 2.
Observation platforms used by the Chinese 1421–2
Areas of the world surveyed: fleets required
Indian Ocean (Cantino): nine million square miles and thousands of islands. Assuming ships 15 miles apart, sailing at 4.8 knots and surveying for 10 hours a day, then 30 ships would have had to be at sea for 18 months.
South America and Antarctic (Piri Reis): approximately 6 million square miles – about 20 ships required over an 18-month period.
North America and North Atlantic (Cantino): approximately 12 million square miles – about 40 ships.
Far East (Rotz): no fewer than 20 ships over an 18-month period.
Australasia (Rotz): no fewer than 20 ships over an 18-month period.
Rivers of the world (Waldseemüller): thousands of miles of the Orinoco, Amazon and Mississippi and hundreds of miles of rivers in Siberia, Australia and Pacific America are depicted on European charts before voyages of discovery. No fewer than 130 ships over 18 months would be required.
The Chinese fleet
‘In its heyday, about +1420, the Ming navy probably outclassed that of any other Asian nation at any time in history, and would have been more than a match for that of any contemporary European state or even a combination of them. Under the Yung-Lo emperor it consisted of some 3,800 ships in all: 1,350 patrol vessels and 1,350 combat ships attached to guard stations (wei and so) or island bases (chai), a main fleet of 400 large warships stationed at Hsin-chiang-khou near Nanking, and 400 grain-transport freighters. In addition there were more than 250 long-distance “treasure ships” or galleons (pao chuan), the average complement of which grew from 450 men in +1403 to over 690 in 1431, and certainly overstepped 1,000 in the largest vessels. A further 3,000 merchantmen were always ready as auxiliaries, and a host of small craft did duty as despatch-boats and police launches. But the peak of the development which had started in 1130 came in 1433, and after the great reversal of policy the navy declined much more rapidly than it had grown, so that by the middle of the 16th century almost nothing was left of its former grandeur.’ (Needham, vol.3, p.484)
‘More than eight hundred sail of large and small ships had come to India from the ports of Malacca and China and the Lequeos [Ryuku Islands], with people of many nations, and all laden with merchandise of great value which they brought for sale … they were so numerous that they filled the country and settled as dwellers in all of the towns of the sea coast.’ (Chaudhuri, p.154; evidence provided by Professor Robert Finlay of Arkansas University)
In parallel with Zheng He’s development of his fleet went that of overseas bases. By 1421, the Chinese had bases around the Indian Ocean and down the east African coast to Sofala. They already had an extensive network across Indonesia and the South China Sea. Since 1405 there had been five voyages becoming progressively more adventurous as the years went by. During the fourth voyage the Chinese had separated their fleets and sailed far down the east African coast: ‘Chinese … with Tartairs, Japanese and Koreans … crossed the Maritime Stretch … into the Kingdoms of Quivira populating Mexico, Peru and other eastern countries of the Indies [America].’ (Carlos Prince)
The author contends that the whole world had been charted before Europeans set sail, and that only the Chinese could have done so.
1. Chinese maps, star charts and records that escaped destruction
These charts describe the whole world save for the Americas. The following list of extant records is taken from Chinese Discovery of Australia by Professor Wei Ju Xian.
Australia Confucius: Spring and Autumn Annals (481 BC) recorded solar eclipses in Australia on 17 April 592 and 11 August 553.
Classics of Mountains and Seas (338 BC) describes boomerangs, black millet and kangaroos.
Atlas of Foreign Countries (AD 265–316) describes small black natives of northern Australia.
North Pole Zhuangzi (3rd century BC): ‘It takes six months including flying and resting time for seagulls to fly 90,000 li from North to South Pole.’ (Old Chinese li = half a kilometre.) Zhuangzi also mentions going round the earth from east to west, as does Xun Zi (40 years after Zhuangzi).
Ancient Chinese books: ‘Distance North Pole to South Pole is more than 80,000 li.’
Qi-xie (643 BC): ‘If a person of Yan State [Hebei province] goes north and a person of Yue State [Zhejian, South China] goes south they will meet each other at the very end of their journey.’
Lienzi (3rd century BC): ‘South of Africa sun cannot be seen for 50 consecutive days.’
Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (published 1430) describes North Pole: Eskimos, coldness, sunshine, polar lights, sea elephants and seals.
2. Chinese or Asiatic peoples found by the first European explorers
Far East and Indian Ocean: Chinese found throughout Indian Ocean to China. Chinese graveyards remain today in Malacca, Indonesia a
nd Philippines (Sulu).
Africa: Pate – Father Monclavo.
Atlantic: Azores – bodies from Corvo (Columbus). (Azores/Machado-Joseph disease there.)
Greenland: ‘People from Cathay have visited here’ (Columbus). (Greenland peoples have Chinese DNA.)
South America
Brazil: Cabral – ‘Men with pale skins’; Orellana – Apara, meets ‘white men’ (B. McEwen). (Chinese DNA in Amazonian Indians.)
Peru: Chinese-speaking (understanding) villages (Eten and Monsefu) Ludovico de Varthema (voyages to Antarctica). (Chinese DNA in Incas.)
Chile: S Arias (Pacific crossing); Hugo Grotius – Chinese junks found off Chile
Venezuela: Vespucci ‘brownish yellow’ – Maracaibo (B. McEwen). (Chinese DNA.)
Mesoamerica and Caribbean
California: Stephen Powers, Chinese colony between Sacramento and Russian Rivers. Antonio Galvão (1555) – ‘Chinese ruled over locations in Central and South America’. Grotius – Asiatic shipwrecks on Pacific coast. (Chinese DNA.) Mexico: Acosta and Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition met Chinese. (Mazatecs – Chinese DNA.) Gregorio Garcia – ‘Chinese coming to populate Mexico’ (before European voyages). Hernán Cortes – Montezuma recounting grandfather (light-coloured people from East returning).
Lower California to Kansas City (Tiguex): Coronado expedition – Coronado, Mafeo and Frois – Chinese ships, Chinese merchants had come to Quatulco and Panuco all dressed in silk (Loayza). (Chinese DNA in Navajo/Zuni.)
Cuba: Columbus’ expedition (men in white robes, Washington Irvine); Columbus’ secret report (met Chinese); Columbus met Muslims (Dr Shou).
North America/Florida
Rhode Island: Verrazzano – ‘Chinese’ people (Hakluyt, vol. III, 1910, p.350).
Florida: Pedro Menendez de Aviles – Chinese junks. (Chinese DNA in Moskoke.) Plus Powhatan’s account to Captain John Smith; Virginia – Jerry Warsing; Alexander von Wuthenau, Unexpected Faces in Ancient America, shows Chinese (B. McEwan). (Sioux, Cree Ojibwa – Chinese DNA.)
Pacific
Bougainville, Wallace – found Chinese people on many islands Bodies of Chinese in Indonesia
Saavedra – Micronesia
Australasia: Cook was not the first – men preceded Cook in ‘ships like clouds’; descriptions of local people. (Maori – Chinese DNA.)
3. Local peoples’ descriptions of Chinese or Asiatic peoples who settled among them before Europeans arrived
Far East and Indian Ocean: too numerous to include. Widespread intermarriages between Chinese men and local women.
Africa: Pate – story of giraffe presented in 1416 to Chinese emperor
North America and Atlantic coast
Rhode Island: ‘great ship-like house firing cannon sailing upriver’; carvings of foreign ship and shipwreck (Chelmsford and Dighton Rocks); Pope’s letter to Bishop of Greenland; Chinese naval party landed and murdered (Frank Fitch); Cherokees murdered foreign miners near Minay Sotor River (Scott McLean); barbarians’ ship attacking local people. Florida: (as defined in 17th century) Natchez people – ‘Ancestors came from East by sea’ (Pratz).
Mississippi and tributaries: numerous (more than 100) carvings of foreign ships and horses (extinct in Americas by c.10,000 BC); Powhatan’s account to Captain John Smith.
North America and Pacific coast
Canada: Huron Indians – ‘very far to the West, epicureans without beards came to trade their wool’ (Loayza)
Haida: ‘people sailing from west’ (Marius Barbeau) (R. Hassell)
California: ‘ships like great houses’ off coast; Cherokees slaughter strangers with yellow countenances (S. McLean).
Mexico: Nayarit legends of Asian ships (Mazatecs – Chinese DNA); Lienzo of Jucutácato – foreign visitors arriving on horseback; Cueva Pintada – foreigners being shot at; Yucatán – six carvings of horses and possibly elephants (Campeche Maya – Chinese DNA); legend of wrecked Chinese junk (Joel Fressa); Indian pueblos – Chinese warriors (A. Moya); Montezuma – ancestors came by sea from East in company with a mighty lord (Ranking pp.257–326).
South America
Peru: pre-Columbian pictures of Chinese cavalry at Trujillo (Friar Antonio de la Calancha) and at Ayacucho (G. Squier); ‘Giants came by sea to settle amongst them’ (Garcilaso de la Vega/Pedro Cieza de Leon).
Brazil: paintings of foreign horses (Confins cave).
Patagonia: anonymous (1440) and Durand (1448) maps describing giants of Patagonia; yellow-skinned people crossed Pacific before Europeans (S. Arias); Afghanistan legend (Z. Pradya) – Indian ships accompanied Chinese to South America prior to European voyages; Guarani – ancestors crossed ocean from a far land to settle in Amazon (M. Garcia).
Pacific
Fiji: Yasawa Islands – ‘yellow men visited us’. Hawaii/Oahu: Menehune legends (A. Armstrong) – are Menehune Chinese?
Australia
Arnhem Land: paintings of men on horseback (Vallard); ‘honey-coloured people’ settle, ‘women in pantaloons, men in long robes’; painting of robed strangers (Governor Grey); painting of man being thrown from horse (Glenelg River); drawings of trees, fauna and flora (Rotz); visits of Chinese junks. Gympie: men in stone garments attempt to mine Mount Warning area; ‘culture heroes’ sail into Gympie harbour and take away rocks; Dhamuri people – foreigners land to build pyramids (J. Green).
Fraser Island – small boats leave big ship (J. Green 1862) Sydney/Newcastle, carvings: Hawkesbury River, strange visitors in long robes; foreign ship and funeral of foreign visitors; Byron Bay, massacre of foreign sailors
Warrnambool: Yangerry tribe – yellow people from shipwreck settled among them and created farms
Glenelty River: carving of foreign sailors.
New Zealand
North Island: two large ships preceded Captain Cook (Maori accounts); light-coloured people settled among Maoris and begat children; Tamil calligraphy.
South Island: large ship wrecked; Tamil calligraphy.
4. Linguistics and languages common to New World and China
Chinese spoken
California: Chinese-speaking colony on Russian River (Powers) Mexico: Othomis people
Canada, British Columbia: ‘Colonia dei Chinesi’ (Zatta) Peru: Eten and Monsefu villages (Lambaeque Province) three miles apart understood Chinese (19th century) but did not understand each other’s patois.
Chinese names
In northern Peru, mainly in the Ancash province, there are 95 geographical names which are Chinese words and have no significance in Quechua, Aymara or any of the other dialects of northern Peru (examples follow). There are also 130 geographical names in Peru which correspond to names in China. The very name ‘Peru’ means ‘white mist’ in Chinese – the white mist which cloaks the coast many days each year. The name given to Chile (Ch-Li) was pre-Spanish (= ‘dependent territory’ in Chinese). Peruvian Name
Chinese Translation
Cha-Wan (La Pampa)
Land prepared for sowing
Chancan (Tarma)
To harden metals
Chamtan (San Gregorio)
Covered in sand
Chaolan (Margos)
Ready for combustion (viz. coal-mine)
Chulin (Caras)
Forest
(Har) (Bongara)
Red (i.e. red earth)
Hu-Pa (Huasta)
Leguminous plant
Colan
Difficult passage
Chanchan (area between Moche and Viru Rivers)
Canton
Laychi (Ochros)
Small fruit
Lahan (Huancay)
Clamour (viz. waterfall)
Linche (Chincha)
Snake
Mongtan (Cochabamba)
Big stream
Payhan (Trujillo)
Damaging drought
Hon Kon (Moche River)
Red hole
Linguistics
East Africa: bajun (local name for boat people)
Australi
a: bajun (SW Australia), and Japanese (Lynda Nutter) simulants
China (Hokkien): joon (boat which persists southwards to Amoy in Taiwan, and the ports of Bangkok, Penang and Singapore) (Dr Tan Koolin evidence)
Peru: (Loayza) at least 37 words other than the village names given above, including quipu (knotted string) – China qipu, Hawaii kiipúu, Marquesas KaulaKipu’u (Duncan Craig)
New Zealand: kumara (sweet potato); Peru – kumar
Mesoamerica: kik (chicken); India – kikh (chicken)
South America: sampan (boat), China – sampan; balsa (raft), China – balsa
Pacific America: Zuni language and Japanese (Nancy Yaw Davis)
British Columbia (Squamish Indians): tsil (wet), chi (wood), tsu (grandmother); China – tsil (wet), chin (wood), etsu (grandmother), and another 37 words.
North America (Virginia): Ming Ho people (J Warsing), Wyo Ming county, Lyco Ming people, Ho down, ho cakes
Tiguex: ‘Huri Shan’
Mexico: Pi k’w; Saka (Henriette Mertz – Pale Ink). Towns are strung out from central Arizona to Yucatán – viz. Huetamo, Huichol, Huizontla, Huepac, Huitzo, Huila, Huitepec, etc., to Zacapa. The cultures these towns possess have no linguistic affinity for one another. In none of the cultures is there a meaning for any one of the three base words.
Chiapas: Tse-Tsai; tso tsil (R. Banzo)
Guatemala: Lord of Guatama? (H. Mertz and J.D. van Horn)
1421: The Year China Discovered the World Page 40
