Short description
In 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. But by the time they returned home, Zhu Di had lost control and China was turning inwards, leaving the records of their discoveries to be forgotten for centuries.
Long description
On 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas' and unite the world in Confucian harmony.;Their journey would last for over two years and take them around the globe. But by the time the fleet returned home, Zhu Di had lost control and China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. And so these great ships rotted at their moorings and the records of their extraordinary journey were destroyed. And with them, the knowledge that the Chinese had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, and Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook. . .;The result of over fifteen years research, 1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE WORLD is Gavin Menzies' enthralling account of the voyage of the emperor's fleet, the remarkable discoveries he made and the incontrovertible evidence to support them: ancient maps, precise navigational knowledge, astronomy and the surviving accounts of Chinese explorers and the later European navigators as well as the artefacts the fleet left in its wake - from sunken junks to the ornate votive offerings left by the Chinese sailors wherever they landed, giving thanks to Shao Lin, goddess of the sea. Already hailed as a classic, this is the story of an extraordinary journey of discovery that not only radically alters our understanding of world exploration but also rewrites history itself.
Review
Columbus, da Gama and Captain Cook may have taken the credit for a world of discoveries, but it seems the Chinese beat them all to it by a considerable margin. At least, that is the theory of former submarine commander Gavin Menzies who has spent 15 years researching an idea that on the surface may sound far-fetched. Unlike most revisionists, however, Menzies has a mass of evidence to support his ideas, including ancient maps, large standing stones and other material treasures left along the various routes - not least a number of sunken junks. According to the book - set to become a TV documentary - a massive Chinese fleet set sail in 1421 on the orders of Emperor Zhu Di. The emperor ordered his eunuch admirals, led by Zheng He, to discover new lands and unite the whole world under the umbrella of Confucian harmony - which, reading between the lines, means they were to find some cheap markets with which China could trade. The admirals' journeys lasted more than two years, during which they discovered, mapped and explored America (70 years before Columbus), Australia (350 years before Cook), and even Antarctica. So how did knowledge of these adventures become lost? Menzies has the answer to that, too. He says that when the admirals returned home they found China in a state of turmoil - in effect, going through a civil war. All evidence of the old emperor's achievements was destroyed, the nation spurned overseas contacts and so began centuries of isolation. Menzies makes his case well, presenting an enormous amount of evidence that is difficult to contradict. He also shows how the theory addresses many previously unanswered questions about ancient maps that some have said must have come from Atlantis, others from space aliens. It seems they were more likely the work of a crowd of enterprising eunuchs. This is a stunning book, eye-opening in its revelations and lavishly illustrated throughout. A bestseller in the making. (Kirkus UK)