Zheng He vs. Magellan
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 03.20.02 | 9:51 PM ET
An amateur historian says Chinese eunuch Zheng He was really the first man to sail around the world. Gavin Menzies, a retired Royal Navy submarine commander navigation expert, told the Royal Geographical Society last week that evidence lies in pre-Columbian maps showing results of the Zheng He voyage, ancient Chinese artifacts found far from home and remains of gigantic shipwrecks in Australia and the Caribbean. What does the historical establishment think? According to Sunday’s New York Times, “[T]he fact that Mr. Menzies was given a respectful hearing at the venerable geographical society indicated that his ideas were not being dismissed as those of a crank.”