1421: The Year China Discovered the World

Although Menzies has unearthed a few unknown primary sources, the bulk of his thesis depends on amalgamating several disparate areas of research into a grand unified theory. So he combines what we do know--principally that the Chinese built huge sailing ships with nine masts and that Asiatic chickens were discovered in South America--into what he considers compelling evidence. Menzies has also turned up some maps from the pre-Columbus era that appear to show the Americas, along with a few shipwrecks and Ming artefacts from along his supposed route.

It all makes for a gripping read, even if the sum doesn't quite add up to the whole. For all the detail, Menzies is some way off providing proof. None of the supposed 28,000 colonists has left any documentary evidence because all records, boats and shipyards associated with his voyage were burnt by imperial order in 1433. This surely begs the question--if we know so much of Zheng He's voyages around the Indian Ocean, how come we know nothing of his trips further east? Nor, conveniently for Menzies, did any of the colonists return home in triumph. They either died en route or skulked home to obscurity after they were disowned by the emperor.

So you either accept Menzies as an act of faith or brush him aside with scepticism. Either way, you'll have a lot of fun in the process as the book is never less than provocative. And even the sceptics will find themselves hoping Menzies has got it right, because there's something intrinsically uplifting about the notion of an amateur historian getting one over the professionals. --John Crace

Using a mixture of medieval maps and manuscripts, an in-depth and practical maritime knowledge, botanical evidence and sound reasoning, Menzies puts forward his theory that China, not Europe, discovered America, Australia, and the rest of the world - decades before Europeans set sail for distant seas.

In a rich and descriptive style, Menzies tells of the lives of the Emperor Zhu Di, who ordered the voyages of exploration, and of Admiral Zheng He, his friend and chief eunuch. He goes on to describes the huge treasure fleets and tracks their course across the face of the globe. At each landfall, Menzies gives evidence of the Chinese presence, delving into the folklore of the area's inhabitants and noting the presence of Asian plants and chickens far from China's shores, predating the first Europeans.

This book is a must for anyone interested in keeping up to date with the most recent historical discoveries. In one fell swoop, Menzies has turned the old idea that Europeans first discovered America and circumnavigated the globe on its head. The history books will have to re-written!

1421 is written in an enjoyable style and the author's modesty about his groundbreaking work makes the reader warm to him immediately. Not only are the journeys of the Chinese ships recounted but also the author's own travels in their wake, as he flies around the world seeking evidence of the voyages and advice from a number of experts. This gives the book a double flavour of adventure that makes it hard to put down. An interesting and well-written read.


1421: The Year China Discovered the World   November 19, 2002
57 out of 70 found this review helpful

My initial thought on seeing '1421: The Year China Discovered The World,' prominently advertised all over the London tube network, was that it would make a great Christmas present, what with its innovative subject matter, obvious scope for controversy, and stunning visual appearance.

Menzies has apparently put a lifetime of painstaking research into his book, not only retracing the great navigators in their wake when he was a British naval commander, (of which there is a wonderful cornucopia of amusing anecdotes to be told,) but also sharing the mentality of the Chinese explorers, going into unknown and inhospitable territories, what with his experiences in helming some of the first nuclear submarines to prowl the tense seas.

The book is subsequently a joy to read. Being a mariner myself, with a penchant for wreck diving, I was delighted to read an in depth study into the mysterious Bimini Road which has been much discussed in my circles over the years. The
Road gained great notoriety through the interesting theorising of Dr. David Zink, who professed it to be an ancient temple, leading to the lost city of Atlantis. Menzies however, has come up with a much more plausible idea, that will, I hope, be further investigated in the near future.

The essence of '1421: The Year China Discovered The World', is Menzies' schoolboy-like excitement that is relayed constantly throughout the book, causing him many a sleepless night and frantic pacing up and down library halls. The precision, care, and grey hairs that have evidently been invested into his book cannot be underestimated.

Moreover, the book has been designed for ease of accessibility. It is approachable to both the curious amateur, and the skilled academic, with appendices of hard evidence and technical detail for the trained scholar in the library, and witty prose and glorious colour photographs and diagrams for those more suited to a night in with a mug of Horlicks. Nonetheless what remains a constant for all who will read the book is the sense of adventure, in that by just partaking in the reading of the book, one is playing a part in the uncovering of one of the worlds' great mysteries.

To those sceptics out there who believe that Columbus and his entourage were and still are the greatest maritime pioneers to sail the high seas, I say stop, think, and buy a new pair of glasses! The lines of evidence that say otherwise are overwhelming, and even though they may even suggest that Zheng He's great voyages were only the tip of the iceberg, Menzies deserves much credit in what has obviously been a very bold step in publishing history, voicing theories that will no doubt meet some opposition. The author has undoubtedly opened a can of worms, that will irk those who have structured their studies around the fact that the Europeans were the greatest navigators of their times. No doubt can be cast on the fact that they did excel in their fields in some way, however, we must now, with the overwhelming and exciting revelations of '1421 : The Year China Discovered The World', pay homage to the great Chinese explorers of the fifteenth century, and yet again open the world history books for further scrutiny.

I now have no doubt as to what Santa's sack will be full of this year!


New light on old civilisation.   December 31, 2002
A. J. Watson (Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK)
15 out of 22 found this review helpful

For many years there have been theories proposing that China discovered the world before Columbus, Magellan, Tasman et al. Now, following Louise Levathes' ground-breaking work 'When China Ruled the Seas', Mr.Menzies has drawn on her researches, supplementing them with his own material and, using his specialist nautical and navigational skills, has expanded our knowledge of Chinese exploration immensely.

15 years of devoted research has produced a hefty book, which is nevertheless very readable, split into manageable chapters and sprinkled with illustrations, with some fine colour plates. The political intrigue and the maneouvring that went on within the complex Chinese court reads like a novel at times. Then it becomes a detective story; piecing together the evidence of ancient maps and standing stones, a realistic and very plausible theory of the track of the 1421 voyage emerges. However, as others have noted, he does convert some tenuous relationships into apparent fact, but admittedly without the tunnel-vision of von Daniken.

Much of his findings are surmise, backed by a healthy dose of extrapolation and hunch, but the circumstantial evidence is very convincing. This is Mr.Menzies forte, as we see apparently useless maps converted into the real thing by appropriate adjustments for currents; then we smack our foreheads and, with 20/20 hindsight, say 'Of course, how silly not to have seen that before!'.

As we have virtually no records from China - the Ming ruler having expunged most of the records of ship construction, voyages made, lands discovered and tributes collected - it is very difficult to establish the facts in the voyages of Zheng He. But some evidence is hard to refute; for example, Chinese porcelain found in South Africa and Australia, wrecks of junks (which could only come from that dynasty) discovered in far-away places...
As more information comes to light, we may see further archaeological surveys producing evidence to back up (or not) Mr.Menzies' theories - see the web-site www.1421.tv for ongoing news.

A long list of notes, bibliography and references completes the book.
A very satisfying read. *****


1421   November 19, 2002
17 out of 28 found this review helpful

Menzies’ superbly crafted book is a must for anyone interested in furthering their outlook on a world of which we still know so little. An historical epic, it traces the little known about voyages of the great Chinese eunuch admirals who circumnavigated and charted the globe upwards of some 70 years before the Europeans claimed to have done so. The revelations disclosed in the book, as well as the significant quantity of evidence that supports the author’s theses, have been extensively researched over many years in the author’s eventful life, and Menzies’ down to earth style will keep a wide range of readers amused and intrigued when reading his work, a landmark in modern historical analysis.

If there is one book that needs to be read and noted by the many forward thinkers in our ever more accommodating society, then this is it.


History Rewritten   December 26, 2005
M. S. Bowden (Xiamen, China)
13 out of 22 found this review helpful

This book, as one may well gueess from its status as a bestseller, is a riproaring triumph. It is a detective story, travelogue, and history book rolled into one, and is as beautifully crafted as one would expect from a man who has spent many years of his life putting it together.

Let's cut to the chase; the claim that Menzies makes - that the Chinese treasure fleets of 1421 discovered the Americas, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand long before any Europeans - is one which ruffles many feathers. Menzies argues that Colombus, Da Gama, Magellan, and Cook all followed in the wake of these Chinese discoveries, and in almost all cases, relied upon Chinese navigational and cartographic knowledge. This argument is no doubt controversial, and if this book is as widely read and accepted as it ought to be, there will soon be piles of history books all over the world which need to be replaced.

Menzies has mounds of evidence to support his claims, and that evidence is explained and discussed in this book with great clarity and intelligence. He argues that the clues left by the Chinese fleets take the form of porcelain, plants, animals, buildings, wrecked ships, and most conclusively, people. The author ties this evidence together and reconstructs the threads of the Chinese voyages with great mastery. Perhaps most impressive is the sheer volume of reading and research which Menzies has done in order to get to the point of publishing this book.

1421 is an important book, and one which is made accessible to all through Menzies' easy narrative style. It is difficult, in the face of the evidence which Menzies presents, to see the history of exploration in the same light after reading this book. At the most, 1421 has begun the process of rewriting history, and at the least, it poses important questions which ought to be explored elsewhere in more depth. Read this book, and decide for yourselves. Even if you do not agree with the conclusions posited in 1421, you will go away knowing that you have still read a first class work.