The stories of Zheng He have led some historians, such as Gavin Menzies (1421: The Year China Discovered the World), to go so far as to claim that the Chinese, not the Europeans, discovered America. Menzies claims that in Zheng He's voyage of 1421, the admiral rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then divided his armada. One group went on to explore South America, Antarctica and Australia, while the others toured Central and North Americas and circled Greenland.
Since the Chinese destroyed all records of Zheng He's voyages, Menzies supports his theory with evidence from shipwrecks, anchor stones, language and maps. He notes a Portuguese map of 1428 that suggested the existence of some Caribbean islands long before any European had travelled there.
Other historians consider Menzies's theory preposterous, pointing out that lines on old maps are so ambiguous that they can be used to support any theory. Menzies excites the imagination with claims that European explorers found settlements of Chinese in America, wrecks of Chinese junks in the Atlantic and paintings of Chinese cavalry in Peru.
If someday Menzies is proven right, the history of exploration and the claims of the great explorers from Columbus to Magellan will have to be re-evaluated.
Learn more:
Talk Asia: British Author Gavin Menzies
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