The
discovery of America
by the Chinese in 1421 is a big lie!
The
author changed a map to fit his theory!
By
Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor
When I was a teenager and went to the public fairs on 9th and 23rd of each month, in my hometown of Vale de Cambra, Continental Portugal, one of things that impressed me the most were Chinese men selling neckties. They exhibited a variety of colorful ties on a bar at the level of the belly button, and announced loudly their price. ”It is a bargain, each for fifty escudos”. And then they sold each tie for five escudos! This price exaggeration left a mark in the people of my home town to the point that every time we heard an exorbitance we classified it as a “Chinese bargain”!
Now the excessive publicity for the book that says that the Chinese discovered America many years before the Europeans, reminds me of the Chinese men selling neckties in my hometown in Portugal!…
I
have here in my house a copy of the video when Mr. Gavin Menzies made his
presentation at the British Historical Society in London, England,
concerning “his” discovery of America
and the entire world by the Chinese, in 1421.
His lecture is an authentic rubbish. It has no heads and no tails. He
does not present any Chinese coeval
documentation, or any maps, nor any
confirmatory documents! The entire presentation is pure fantasy, it is a
nightmare!
What amazes me most is the organized machinery of publicity that was started in England and it is now getting generalized in the United States of America and even to other countries with translations of the book in several languages. The title of the book is: “1421- The Year China discovered America” by Gavin Menzies . This book costs $27 dollars. It is foreseen that many Americans will buy this book as a matter of curiosity. I am not going to spend one cent on it!
A good friend of mine received a copy of this book, as a gift from his son, and my friend insisted that I should see the book, to confirm my bad impressions of the theory of Chinese being the early discoverers of America. So I did. This way I could examine the book before I could give my final diagnosis and even write my final autopsy report!…
Examining the book “1421- The Year the Chinese discovered America”, the first thing I noticed, and verified was that the author Gavin Menzies changed a map to fit his theory of the Chinese being the first discoverers of America! That is a No, No. That is a big Boo, Boo! A honest investigator should never change an original document or map! That is a crime!
Mr. Gavin Menzies confesses, on the introduction of his book starting on page three, that it was the Nautical Chart of 1424 that gave him the inspiration to conceive his theory that the Chinese discovered America in 1421.
He states that this Nautical Chart of 1424, that exists in the remarkable collection of early maps and charts at the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota, was signed by Zuane Pizzigano, on August 22, 1424. He further considers, with conviction, that this Nautical Chart of 1424 is an extraordinary cartographic achievement for that era, because of the accuracy of the coastline of Europe and Africa and also of the known archipelagos of Azores, Madeira and Canary islands. But what really dominated his attention were the four most western islands, two of which are painted in red and the other two painted in blue. He emphasizes that “the date of this map, its provenance and authenticity are unimpeachable”.
He analyzes the names of these four islands: Satanazes, Antilia, Saya and Ymana and agrees that they are all Portuguese names! He concurs that the name Antilia is Portuguese: ‘anti’ meaning ‘on the opposite side of’, plus ‘ilha’ equal to ‘island’. So far so good. But then, suddenly, he is fooled, hypnotized by the word Antilia. And he writes: “After several months of examining charts and documents in map rooms and archives I became convinced that Antilia and Satanazes were actually the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe”. With this statement, Mr. Gavin Menzies committed historical suicide! To fit his statement he changed the positions of the islands on the Nautical Chart of 1424!
I am really amazed that Mr. Gavin Menzies, being a retired captain of a British submarine, did not see, immediately, that those four islands on the Nautical Chart of 1424 are on the same north latitudes as the southern part of England – his home country!— and including also the continental European coastlines all the way down to Gibraltar! These four islands are encompassed within the latitudes between 35.5 and 47 degrees north measured on the Nautical Chart of 1424! The latitudes of the islands of Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean have a latitude of 18 degrees north. There is a difference of more than 27 degrees of latitude which is equivalent to more than 1,750 miles of distance! How could a British captain make such huge discrepancy? I believe Mr. Gavin Menzies had his Chinese theory preconceived!
But he makes a much bigger blunder trying to prove his theory that the islands of Antilia and Satanazes are respectively Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe. Those islands are drawn on the Nautical Chart of 1424, practically in a vertical position, but Mr. Menzies to fit his preconceived theory simply changes the Nautical Chart and puts these islands in an horizontal position, and even upside-down, to match the geographic characteristics of the islands of Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe. Unbelievable! Too bad! The study of the discovery of Americas are in need of honest investigation not more confusion, which only serves individual capricious wishes!
Analyzing the facts.
On this photo we can easily see that the four islands: Saya, Satanazes, Ymana and Antilia are within 47 degrees and 35.5 degrees latitudes north. Please relate them to Europe: England, France, Spain, Portugal and Africa.
Now let us compare all the latitudes of the north Atlantic with the latitudes in the Caribbean Sea in relation to the latitudes of Europe and Africa.
Please note that the only American islands that are opposite to continental Europe are Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe are 300 miles apart. Puerto Rico is at 18 degrees latitude north, and Guadeloupe is at 17 degrees latitude north . Neither of these two islands have any geographic comparison whatsoever with the islands of Antilia and Satanazes in their original drawing on the Nautical Chart of 1424!
