I just read a most fascinating book about the Chinese treasure fleets and voyages of discovery in the early 1400s. From the title you can see the book makes a claim, that is extremely well supported by excellent research, the Chinese colonized America in 1421. The author, Gavin Menzies, is not alone in his claim. Many scientists and academics across the world are on board with this assertion. The evidence is that strong. To see some of the evidence go to this site, http://www.gavinmenzies.net/evidence.asp.

That this is a historical fact is interesting but some of the details are almost incredible.

In 1404, the emperor appointed scholars to preserve all known literature and knowledge in an effort to make Beijing, not only the world’s greatest city but, the intellectual capital of the world. The result was a massive encyclopedia of four thousand volumes with some 50 million characters. During this time hundreds of printed novels could be bought in the Beijing market stalls. There was nothing comparable in the world. Printing was still unknown in Europe. The library of Henry V (1387-1422) had six books, three of which were on loan. The Florentine Francesco Datini, the wealthiest European merchant of the time, had twelve books, eight of which were on religious topics. WOW.

In this climate the emperor commissioned treasure fleets to explore far and wide to increase this body of knowledge. They were already routinely trading across the Far East, the Indian Ocean and the coasts of Australia and Africa. In these explorations they sailed to the poles and pretty much every continent in between. They discovered how to measure longitude which means they could navigate more accurately. They accomplished their mission. But why don’t we know about this? Why isn’t it in our school books? Why do we give Columbus all the credit (and we know he was only one of many from Europe)?

All the records were destroyed.

Combine a bad omen with a busted budget and the next emperor wanted to erase this recent bad history. Foreign travel and languages were banned. To prevent contact with the outside world a strip of land on the southern coast 700 miles long and 30 miles wide was devastated and burnt and the population moved inland. The shipyards were closed. Colonies in Africa, Australia, New Zealand and North and South America were left to their fate. Of course, DNA testing has shown that these colonies survived and integrated with the existing cultures.

It is a great book and I highly recommend it. And, while you are at it, you must look at www.1421exposed.com which refutes the claims made in the book. I am not a historian nor a scientist and I can find merit on both sides of the discussion. Just as we continue to debate the historical facts associated with Jesus, I am sure people will debate these facts. I encourage you to read and make your own assessment. Nonetheless, I think the next paragraph is true no matter what the facts of 1421.

Today, as we watch a resurgent China, we would be well-served to recognize the history of achievement of that nation. We know we are in an economic battle and I wonder if we are equipping ourselves correctly to win the battle or are we complacent and more focused on our entitlements than our opportunity. Our educational system continues to lag other nations. Are we teaching the right things at the right level or are we making it easier so no one gets offended? We remain a nation of great opportunity. Look at the immigration numbers in unskilled AND skilled labor and we see this opportunity confirmed. You are already here, what will you do with your opportunity?

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 1:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.