Postby InsaneIrony » Sun Dec 03, 2006 3:07 pm
The book is written by a former sailor, and he found out about it through looking at old maps.
A lot of records were destroyed in China upon the return of the ships because of a change in emperor and some disasters which caused them to take a sudden isolationist approach.
According to the book, a large fleet left China to explore the world and collect tribute from everybody. Almost everywhere they landed, masons left a large carved stone in whatever language was considered native to the area, describing the achievements of the fleet, etc. A lot of trade was conducted, including with fowl and plants, causing chinese chickens to be found throughout South America and maize to have been found in the Philippines.
After reaching a port in Calicut (I think) the fleet separated under various commanders and left to explore certain areas before returning to China.
They found the Cape of Good Hope, the Strait of Magellan, and many other places long, long before europeans did. They also came across Patagonia, and recorded a considerable amount of antartica. Mostly coastlines, but they did conduct trade often. I think they got to Central America, at least.
Also, there have been shipwrecks found in various places. The Chinese of the time had a peculiarly shaped 'junk' that was more flat and rectangular, from what I understand. A picture of it was found in an old european map, near the cape of good hope.
Oh, and although in China many documents and maps were burned, a lot of the guy's research was done through maps after that time, before european explorers 'found' the places. There were also documents from a european merchant who had been in Calicut during the time that the Chinese were there. A lot of the proof in the book is through how a few european maps copied things that european ships at the time had no way of knowing.
1099-5: Bandit says: "Collect a sum of 100 000g of sand to offer me in tribute or I will kill you."
