Is the book 1421 accurate?

Unlike “The Da Vinci Code”, “1421” claims to be a work of fact. For all that, it appears to have involved little fact checking and next-to-no academic scrutiny. Yet as we see in the program Menzies, his publisher and agent are quite unapologetic.

What happened in the year 1421 AD?

Events of 1421 A small French force surprises and defeats a smaller English force under Thomas, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Henry V of England, in Normandy. May 26 – Mehmed I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Murad II. November 17–19 – St. Elizabeth flood.

What is Gavin Menzies theory & on what fact does he establish his theory?

Menzies said he determined that the first European explorers of the New World, including Columbus and Magellan, carried maps derived from Chinese charts that somehow found their way to Venice in 1428 and then to Portugal.

Did the Chinese come to America in 1421?

Columbus discovered America in 1492, any elementary school student will tell you. But an amateur historian says Columbus was about 70 years too late. The Chinese beat him to it in 1421, says Gavin Menzies, author of 1421, The Year China Discovered America.

How many years old is China?

3,500 years
An old missionary student of China once remarked that Chinese history is “remote, monotonous, obscure, and-worst of all-there is too much of it.” China has the longest continuous history of any country in the world—3,500 years of written history. And even 3,500 years ago China’s civilization was old!

Did Chinese discover Australia?

You see in the 1420s Australia’s west and east coasts were visited and charted by the Chinese. In fact in a great surge of navigation and discovery the Chinese mapped much of the world in the 1420s.

What happened in the year 1424?

August 17 – Battle of Verneuil: An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under the Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas. Alençon is captured and Douglas killed.

What are critiques of Gavin Menzies claims?

First, he does not read Chinese and thus cites no primary sources–a problem even if one accepts that the records were all destroyed. Even more fatal to his argument, Menzies often fails to provide corroborating data for many of his claims.

Why is the year 1421 important?

On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China to “proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas.” When the fleet returned home in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political and economic chaos.

Who really discovered the Americas?

Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the Americas in 1492. Americans get a day off work on October 10 to celebrate Columbus Day.

Who is Gavin Menzies and what did he write?

About the Author. Gavin Menzies is the bestselling author of 1421: The Year China Discovered America; 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance; and The Lost Empire of Atlantis: History’s Greatest Mystery Revealed. He served in the Royal Navy between 1953 and 1970.

Does Gavin Menzies’1421 deserve serious consideration?

Gavin Menzies’ 1421 is audacious, controversial, and deserves to be given serious consideration.

Why is Menzies wrong about 1421?

If 1421 is true, Menzies has not found the evidence to support it. If it is false, it’s junk and a waste of time to read. Further, it perpetuates a falsehood that makes the acquisition of real history–real, boring, dry and factual history–that much harder to grasp. …more

Does Gavin Menzies run with the ball?

But then, Gavin Menzies runs with the ball. 1421 tells of of the voyages these fleets undertook that reached and accurately mapped, within the limits of the technologies of the time, the coasts of much of North and South America, Australia and Antarctica. Page after page of revelations kept me eagerly reading.