Did Chinese explorers discover America in the 1420s? This theory was advances in the 2002 book by Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered America. Here, Capers Jones looks at some of the evidence for this.
Editor’s Note: Many of the claims in the book 1421: The Year China Discovered America have been challenged as being speculative and many claims have little evidence.
A Chinese woodblock print, that is said to represent Zheng He's ships.
Introduction
In the year 2002 a retired British submarine commander named Gavin Menzies published a controversial book entitled “1421: The Year China Discovered America.” The book put forth a speculation that a Chinese Admiral named Zheng had taken a fleet around the world and made landfall in America in the year 1421.
Thirty years before Menzies book, a Baptist missionary in China named Dr. Herndon Harris purchased a map at a shop in Taiwan. This map now known as the Harris Map was supposedly published in 1418 or 74 years before Columbus took his first voyage. The map clearly shows both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America and also much of the continent of South America. This kind of geographical knowledge should not have been possible in 1418 and probably not until over 300 years later after the voyages of Captain Cook.
The map clearly shows both the north and south poles, both North and South America, Panama, Australia, and all of Africa and Europe. A world map with this kind of accuracy should not exist in 1418.
This map is apparently based on the world voyages of Admiral Zheng he and shows knowledge of both coasts of North America as well as South America. Assuming that the reported 1418 date is valid and the map is authentic, it shows that China did indeed have a blue-water fleet that carried out very extensive voyages of exploration prior to Columbus. In fact it has been suggested that Portuguese spies in China had brought such maps back to Portugal and that Columbus may have seen the Chinese maps prior to his departure.
Chinese ship-building
What may surprise readers is that the Chinese sailing ships circa 1400 were much larger and more sea-worthy than European ships of the same era.
Chinese sailing ships towered over European ships. Americans and Europeans are not taught much about early Chinese history.
The authenticity of the 1418 map has been challenged on several grounds, and there are claims that it may either be a recent map constructed to prove theories of Chinese nautical prowess or at any rate a recent map pieced together in perhaps the 1700’s from other recent maps.
Until the 1418 map is authenticated it is premature to judge its accuracy circa 1418. However in theory no map circa 1418 should be able to show both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the Americas and also Canada and the Isthmus of Panama, all of which appear on the Ming map.
Admiral Zheng He was born in 1371 and died around 1433. He was an actual Chinese admiral and it is known that he did sail a large fleet on seven voyages of exploration.
Chinese maps showing the routes of Admiral Zheng He’s seven voyages do not go as far as the Americas but legends show additional voyages that do arrive in the Americas.
The authenticity of the 1418 map is questionable as of 2022. However Admiral Zheng He was an actual historical personage and it is known that he was a master mariner who carried out seven voyages of exploration.
Historical data confirms that Admiral Zheng He did command a large fleet of blue-water sailing ships in the early 1400’s. Whether or not Admiral Zheng He’s fleet reached America is unclear as of 2022.
Surprisingly there is evidence of even earlier visits to America by Chinese navigators. The evidence is based on American corn, which is a native American crop and should not be found in China before the 1700s.
There are several recognizable images of corn from China, including from the Hongshan culture. Incidentally the known dates of the Hongshan culture are from 4700 to 2900 BC which is actually older than the use of corn in the Americas.
Earlier visits?
There are even older records of possible visits from China that date back to 450 AD. Hui Shen is a Buddhist monk who reportedly visited Mexico and Central America circa 458 AD. He is not reported to have visited North America or the Narragansett Bay, and his legend is included just to show that Chinese court records did indicate some trans-Pacific travel at an early date. Hui Shen was not a native Chinese but apparently a Buddhist monk from the area of Kabul in modern Afghanistan.
As background, the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, was born in Northern India in 563 BC and lived to be about 80 years of age. During his lifetime Buddha formed an order of monks and gave them instructions to travel and spread Buddhism widely. Thus Buddhism, like Christianity, had a long tradition of missionary travel.
Chinese court records show that Hui Shen and four other monks spent almost 40 years in Central America. Apparently Hui Shen was presented at court in 502 AD to the emperor Wu Ti of the Liang Dynasty. The emperor had Hui Shen’s story recorded for court records. Because Hui Shen did not speak Chinese very well, he apparently was regarded by the Chinese as an ambassador from Central America.
Reportedly Hui Shen and his party traveled by boat along the Aleutian Island chain in a Chinese junk and arrived near Vancouver. Then the party went down the West Coast of North America and Central America. It is not clear why they went all the way to Central America, except that perhaps they were aware of the major civilizations to the south.
Although Hui Shen and his party only passed along the West Coast of North America, other Chinese court records indicate some knowledge of the interior. A description of what might be the Grand Canyon occurs. (Incidentally Hui Shen’s route down the Aleutians might possibly have been used by Paleo-Indians many thousands of years ago.)
Do you think Chinese explorers visited America in the 1420s? Let us know below.
Editor’s Note: You can read more about 1421: The Year China Discovered America in a book review here and by an archaeologist here.
Copyright © 2022 by Capers Jones. All rights reserved. Article published on History is Now with the permission of Capers Jones.
References
Gavin Menzies’ book about 1421: The Year China Discovered America is the prime reference. Also Google searches on “Admiral Zheng He” or “Ancient Chinese voyages” will turn up additional citations.
