Research Catalog

Title

1421 : the year China discovered America / Gavin Menzies.

Author

Menzies, Gavin.

Publication

[New York, NY] : William Morrow, c2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xix, 552 p., [32] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps; 25 cm.

Summary

• This volume presents the author's assertion that the fleets of Chinese Admiral Zheng visited the Americas prior to European explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, and that this same Chinese fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. The author presents a series of vignettes describing his travels around the globe, examining what he claims is evidence for his "1421 hypothesis", interspersed with speculation and description of the achievements of Admiral Zheng's fleet.
• "A remarkable journey of discovery that rewrites our understanding of history"--Jacket.

Alternative Title

• Year China discovered America
• Fourteen twenty-one

Subjects

• History
• 1368-1644
• China > History > Ming dynasty, 1368-1644
• Voyages around the world
• Discoveries in geography > Chinese

Genre/Form

History

Note

• "This book was originally published in Great Britain in 2002 by Transworld Publishers"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 509-536) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

List of maps and diagrams -- List of plates -- Chinese nomenclature -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The Emperor's grand plan -- A thunderbolt strikes -- The Fleets set sail -- Rounding the Cape -- The New World -- Voyage to Antarctica and Australia -- Australia -- Barrier Reef and the Spice Islands -- The first colony in the Americas -- Colonies in Central America -- Satan's Island -- The treasure fleet runs aground -- Settlement in North America -- Expedition to the North Pole -- Solving the riddle -- Where the earth ends -- Colonizing the New World -- On the shoulders of giants -- Epilogue : the Chinese legacy -- Postscript -- appendix 1. Chinese circumnavigation of the world, 1421-3 : index of supporting evidence -- appendix 2. Eyewitness diaries -- appendix 3. Key charts describing the first navigation of the world -- appendix 4. The determination of longitude -- appendix 5. Further information on website -- Notes -- Select bibliography -- Index.

ISBN

0060537639

OCLC

• 51318605
• SCSB-10266919

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library