Customer Reviews

1421: The Year China Discovered America

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Gavin Menzies claims that the gigantic imperial fleet commanded by Admiral Zheng He was the first to visit the Americas and the first to circumnavigate the globe. His book has engendered a fair amount of controversy, in no small part to the lack of physical or documentary evidence supporting Menzies' claims.

We have all encountered our fair share of TV productions that discuss off-beat or unconventional theories (Atlantis, UFOs, Noah's Ark, etc. etc. etc.) that credulously present the theory in question without offering any critical analysis. The result of these pseudoscientific "documentaries" is that we are told that the only plausible explanation for various tidbits of evidence can only be the particular off-beat theory in question. Rarely, if ever, are critics or mainstream scholars given a chance to rebut the theory.

Such is not the case with this program, which is basically divided into three parts. The first part is a basic history of the known voyages of Zheng He, which went as far as East Africa, making contact in Malaya, India, Arabia, among other lands. The program is valuable just for this alone, since most of us have never heard of Zheng He and tend to have a rather Eurocentric view of world exploration. The second portion gives Gavin Menzies the floor, where he puts forth his theory that Zheng went beyond the Cape, made numerous contacts in the Americas, and the Caribbean, and then completed the circumnavigation of the globe (although this aspect is barely discussed in the program). Menzies picks out the odd tidbit (a map here, a mysterious mound there, a possible European link with China as evidenced by a non-Chinese statue) to bolster his argument.

Most programs would have left it at that, and for that matter, most authors like Menzies would have consented only to present their side of the argument rather than get into a scholarly debate. However, the third part of the program allows all of Menzie's critics to open up broadsides on his theory, and they blast away with great vigor. I have to give Menzies credit for consenting to sit down on camera and admit that he has no evidence to rebut a number of his critics' arguments. Sometimes he admits, with great discomfort, that he simply doesn't know enough about a particular field to be able to discuss it. Not everybody would be willing to do that. He tenaciously defends his contentions, but at least does not dismiss the criticism out of hand.

Meanwhile, Menzies' critics have a field day with him, and one is left with the distinct impression, when all is said and done, that even though Zheng's fleet probably could have made it to the Americas (and maybe around the world) there simply is nothing in historical record to suggest that this ever happened, and there really isn't much circumstantial evidence to support Menzies' claim either. Of course, this assumes that the viewer has stuck it out through all of the scholarly thrusts & parries. All in all, I was pleased to see a production that wasn't hopelessly slanted one way or the other. Well done.

Well, I watched it on PBS. Very good story with missing links to be investigated in the future. Sadly the travel logs of the fleets went missing (burned), otherwise this video would be more interesting. We knew that Zheng He went as far as Africa and according to a map some Chinese junk passed the southern tip of Africa and moved on to the Atlantic. The book author has the zeal for naval history and thanks to his investigation, we get to know more about what happened some six hundred years ago. The first hour of this video is about history, retracing the ports Zheng He had visted; the second hour is Q and A between the filmmaker and book author Gavin Menzies. I enjoyed viewing it and would like to see further update on the investigation.

I fully expected this DVD to be a whole-hearted film adaptation of the book without any criticism of the central thesis. If you are not aware of the thesis, British naval officer Gavin Menzies proposes that the gigantic Chinese "Star Fleet" not only explored the Indian Ocean and the coasts of Africa, India and Arabia, but also went around South Africa, into the Atlantic and eventually landed in the Caribbean, North America and South America. Menzies asserts that they went around Tierra Del Fuego, entered the Pacific and eventually returned to China, thus being the first the circumnavigate the globe.

The DVD is very sketchy about the latter half of this trip (The Pacific Ocean leg). The first hour does a strong job of explaining why you may have never heard of Zheng He or his fleet. It also tells about the voyages that historians are confident that Zheng He completed. This lasts about an hour.

The second half of the DVD focuses on the suggestion that Xheng He went to the Americas. Menzies lays out his case and the casual observer comes away convinced.

Then, the experts are brought out and Menzies solid case becomes more of an interesting speculation, which is really where this belongs. Under close scrutiny, this fun bit of theory develops a lot of holes (including New World and Old World diseases, a topic not even mentioned by the experts but that occurred to me).

It turns out that Menzies has very little solid data to hold up his proposal. That being said, it should not be entirely dismissed. I encourage Menzies to address the shortcomings that were brought up and make the necessary adjustments to his thesis. Will he? I certainly hope so.

And the question is who did chart those ancient maps long before the Europeans ever made it to the shores of the New World? This program is an excellent introduction to Menzie's thesis, which he's still gathering the evidence on regarding China's explorations. I think the most important points that are thoroughly missed and glossed over is the part where the expert on the Fra Mauro map states emphatically that "A junk sailed past the southern tip of Africa, not a fleet".

Well then, a single junk, is STILL a CHINESE JUNK THAT SAILED PAST the Cape of Africa, and is recorded and noted on the Fra Mauro map of 1420. This combined with the 1389 map of Africa, extensively detailed, drawn, and labeled with Chinese names, which you can find in a BBC news article, dated 12, November 2002, Africa section, which is nearly a hundred years before European contact with this part of Africa, certainly indicates a highly advanced level of exploration. Beyond that point, well, that's where Menzie's thesis needs more research and field investigation. When it comes to archaeology, the biggest problem is that when it comes to items of historical value, about 98% of it is lost due to environmental conditions. And then you have the whims of human beings that destroys it as well. I wish him the best of luck as he continues.

Either way, someone charted those waters long before the Europeans started leaving their continent, and left behind the maps.

I saw this PBS documentary years ago and didn't comment on it here at the time. But the topic came up in another forum and I just wanted to add my two cents.

As has been mentioned earlier, this documentary is very even-handed. Menzies is allowed to present his theories and critics are allowed to present their criticisms of those theories. However, in Menzies' defense, I have another theory.

When Columbus sailed on his epic voyage that reached North America, there was no presumption on the part of King Ferdinand of Spain (or Queen Isabella for that matter) that Columbus had any "political" ambitions. This may not have been the case for Admiral Zheng He. The Ming Dynasty court destroyed all records of his voyages some time after 1424 (and the ascension of a new emperor). This may have been done because the new emperor saw Zheng He as a possible pretender to his throne - a very popular pretender (with a very powerful fleet of 300 ships).

In short, if King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had felt similarly about Columbus, records of his voyages would perhaps have been destroyed. And, we'd all be sitting around watching PBS videos discussing the "theoretical" discovery of America by "his" vessels.

Of course, the nature of any "discoverer" debate or theory must be tempered with the realization that there were already 1,500,000 (approx.) indigenous residents in North America prior to both voyages (Zheng He and Columbus).

Did the Chinese discover America in 1421, a century before Columbus? Not only does the author believes so, but he also convincingly argues that the Chinese were the first to circumnavigate the world.

The author argues that all great European navigators, such as Columbus and Magellan, had maps in their possession that already outlined the continents of North and South America, as well as Cape Horn, before they ever set sail there. This proves that someone else must have discovered those continents first. According to the author, it was the Chinese.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese emperor Zhu Di ordered a fleet of over one hundred ships, some 400 feet long (much bigger than the ships of Columbus) to be built for the purpose of both exploring and intimidating the world. A Muslim eunuch led the fleet.

This is an exciting and very convincing tale.

The author argues that many European explorers later said that they encountered Chinese settlers in both North and South America. DNA testing has shown that Indians in the Americas are very close in DNA to Chinese. Archaeological remains were found pointing to Chinese settlers in the Americas.

However many scholars debate the author's theories due to the fact that not much evidence on these voyages comes from China. When the survivors of this great fleet returned to China, the Emperor had died, and the new Emperor, wanting to shield his empire from the outside world, ordered all documents relating to the discoveries of the fleet to be burned. All maps and logs of the fleet were burnt!

Also, if the Chinese did visit the Americas first, they would have infected the indigenous population with disease such as the flu, which would have wiped out a big percentage of the population, but would also have immunized the later generations against infectious diseases when the Europeans finally came. This of course did not happen.

Why did the Chinese not visit Europe on their way to the Americas? This is a puzzling fact. There are also no European record of the Chinese fleet.

The DVD is worth watching and is very entertaining and informative. This is a compelling theory, and the book reads like a novel. If the author's theories are proven correct, then history will have to be rewritten. I highly recommend it.

Brings history to life for middle and high school students as well as myself. It arrived in perfect condition and sooner than promised.

This documentary promotes a re-visioning of our human history and subdues the arrogance of the Western perspective. I hope that many more informed 'stories' will come of this.

I want to believe that the Chineese were the first to be in the Americas.
However, I do believe some of the evidence sited is suspect. IE the
tower in Rhode Island.

But the book sited things such as a rudder found in the Sacramento River
in Califorina. I have not herd anything about this at any other time or
on any other venue. Help me out and expand. Lets have this on the History Channel 4 or 6 times a week for awhile like every thing else on
that channel.

It's an interesting theory and there's a lot to like about the history of the Chinese fleet in general, but I can't respect Menzies at all. He's obviously got a theory and when archeological and historical evidence disprove anything about his theory, he ignores it or dismisses it. The documentary does include a number of historians who can categorically destroy his theory, but it seems like that makes the documentary slanted in the wrong direction. Why is so much about one man's idea when his arguments are so flawed? History is dotted with people who had pet theories they believed in regardless of how much evidence proved them wrong, so it isn't anything new, but why give one wrong guy the most coverage in a "documentary?"

By the end of the documentary, I thought Menzies looked just stubborn and foolish.