Columbus, da Gama and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History # 21
Card Fuels Chinese Veil debate has New World First.
The Chinese map controversial argued by some as of 1418.
orange and rusty rags, a map recently deployed in Beijing has revived an international war of words over which reached the New World first.
China is the latest to throw his sailor hat into the ring, but he probably won t be the last in this long race, a hotly contested debate.
The Chinese travel to the American theory was popularized by the British amateur historian Gavin Menzies in his book 2002 entitled 1421 the year China discovered America The controversial work, bestseller says the Chinese Admiral Zheng He reached the Americas more than 70 years before Christophe Colomb famous journey.
After reading 1421, Liu Gang, a Chinese lawyer, realized the potential importance of a card he bought for his private collection dated 1418 clearly showing the outlines of North and South America, the map could be used to support the Menzies theory if it proves legitimate.
Liu unveiled his card during a crowded press conference in Beijing on January 16
Despite generate immediate international interest, the map was quickly rejected by many historians as an outright fake.
Researchers know this area have refuted this claim in no uncertain terms, Sally K Church, Fellow at Cambridge University, told LiveScience.
Geoff Wade, director of research at the University Research Institute of Singapore in Asia, echoed his sentiment Map is a copy of the 18th century a European card, as evidenced by the two hemispheres represented continents represented and non-maritime detailed sic shown, recently wrote to a group of marine researchers.
In the other camp, argues Menzies and Liu 1418 map fervently its key reasoning emailed a member of its staff, is that all continents, ocean, land, island, river indicated on the 1418 card also appears on other Chinese maps of the same date or earlier there is nothing new on the 1418 map he simply combines everything on a piece of paper, he said.
Menzies also highlights a Portuguese map of the Americas from 1419 whose errors like drawing of California as an island is believed to have been copied from mapping mistakes made by the Chinese.
In 1419, the European voyages of discovery had not started If the 1418 map is a fake, then 1419 card must be both how even forge something to discover, reasoned Menzies.
British magazine The Economist recently published an article on the most precious Liu, citing the supporters and detractors of Menzies beliefs.
In a letter to The Economist and provided to LiveScience Wade, criticism of the map of Asia Research Institute, urged his editor to print a retraction.
Let your writer has contributed to the train Menzies and continuous operation in the public disappointment is saddening, Wade wrote the mentioned support everything comes from M. Menzies group of acolytes and claims have no academic support whatsoever Your writer was taken supported by M. Menzies and you have a social responsibility to address it.
The controversy Chinese card can be added to a growing database of requests for pre-Columbian discovery of America.
According to some researchers, it was Scottish Earl Sir Henry Sinclair Orkney who first touched American soil in 1397, on one of many trips Marine has undertaken with its Italian partner Nicolo Zeno Another controversial map drawn by Zeno himself is thought to sketch the coast of Nova Scotia.
Proponents of this theory offers as proof of Sinclair known contact with nearby Viking lords, whose ancestors unequivocal North America sent to centuries before any other Europeans a feat that is often forgotten in the mix.
For now, a rewrite of the history books is useless, according to Wade There is no need to rewrite anything, except the history of the 21st century charlatans, he said.
Map Chinese Fuels Debate Have Sail New World First, fuel debate, Chinese, sailing.
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