New England Antiquities Research Association

 

In the Wake of Zheng He: Regarding "1421, The Year China Discovered America"

By The NEARA Publications Committee
 

 

 

This is a NEARA reaction to the recently published book, 1421, the Year China Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies. Published by William Morrow, 2003

 

The notion that the Chinese could have circumnavigated the globe in 1421 should come as no surprise to those who have paid attention to NEARA publications in recent years. Both the NEARA JOURNAL and NEARA's 1998 volume Across Before Columbus? have featured the disciplined research of pioneering scholars who have carefully examined the evidence for pre-Columbian contacts with the Americas. Of particular note are: the concise and compelling work of Smithsonian researcher Betty Meggers, tracing South American cultural traits to Asian origins; Mike Xu's evaluation of Shang Dynasty writing in Olmec Mexico; and Nancy Yaw Davis's meticulously researched and crafted book postulating a Japanese admixture leading to the unique Zuni Culture. Steve Jett and Carl Johannessen have presented examples of botanical transplants in both directions across the Pacific, while George Carter and Carl have demonstrated that when Europeans arrived in the New World they found Asian chickens already clucking. All of this evidence and much, much more is included in John Sorenson and Martin Raish's continually evolving bibliography of resources on transoceanic contact.

Nor is it implausible that Admiral Zheng He, with his huge treasure ships, seven times the size of the Santa Maria and accompanied by a fully outfitted support convoy, could have made landfall in the Americas. But did they?

Gavin Menzies, in his recently published and aggressively marketed book, 1421, the Year China Discovered America, fervently and enthusiastically believes they did. In his exuberant tale of Oriental luxury and Zheng He's mission of discovery, trade, and tribute, Menzies cites all of the authors just mentioned. Yet he seems not to have read their work, and he presents Zheng He's 1421-23 voyages as a singular event.

The seven voyages of the Ming Dynasty treasure fleets, 1402 - 1433 AD, are well documented in the historical literature, as a web search will quickly show. However, in that record, there seems to be no mention of places that could be construed unambiguously as the Americas, and once the fleet rounds the Cape of Good Hope the wake gets fainter and fainter. The evidence that Menzies presents for pre-Columbian American contact, however enticing it may appear, is loaded with extraneous detail and presented with scant relevant documentation. Stoneworks, inscriptions, and architectural features are described without drawings or photos to help the reader evaluate the similarities or permit scholars to analyze the meanings. Maps are not shown in sufficient detail to enable the reader to have confidence in the veracity of the interpretations. In his discussions of discoveries around the North Atlantic rim, Menzies' assertions and fuzzy adaptations of the work of Bill Penhallow and Sue Carlson - to convert the Newport Tower into a Chinese structure - are completely unconvincing and at odds with the research findings of these and other NEARA members.

A review in the Christian Science Monitor, January 9, 2003, points out that "Menzies understands that his claims will serve as a lightning rod for criticism." We are compelled to ask if Menzies and his publishers also calculated that his unbridled speculation would help sell the book? Did they question in what ways his claims would invite criticism? Was it perhaps because of faulty research and ill-conceived premises, of up-staging the academic establishment and maiming sacred cows?

NEARA represents a moderate middle ground between fervent enthusiasm and rigid rejection, embracing the facts of solid, carefully researched and documented evidence of transoceanic travel and contact with the New World over millennia.

We look forward to dialogue with the authors cited in 1421, after they have had time to read and digest the Menzies material. Through our website, we plan to present their comments and reactions, and we will welcome the response of Commander Menzies and his research team.

NEARA Publications Committee