From: "Stephen A. Lawrence" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: OT Re: July 4 (China)
> > > Mike Carrell wrote: > > >In the early 1400s China was *the* great power and an immense fleet was > >built and launched to map the world and bring it under the Chinese tribute > >system. The world was mapped, and America discovered in 1421. Philip the > >Navigator of Portugal and Columbus had seen copies of the Chinese maps. > > > > Really? Columbus had seen Chinese maps showing America? Then why was > he so confused about the size of the world and so totally ignorant of > the possibility that there might be another continent lurking between > Europe and China? > > Surely he must have realized the Chinese had not encountered Europe by > sailing east -- people in Europe would have noticed the arrival of the > Chinese fleet, and they manifestly had not. So a big bunch of land > located far, far off the Chinese coast could only have been another > continent. Take a look at the 1421 website. There is much more to this story. At the time, the Chinese dominated trade in the Indian ocean and reached into the Arab states, and around the horn or Africa. Much of that Europe called 'civilization' filtered in by the silk road and other routes for centuries, for China was centuries to millennia advanced beyond Europe. The Chinese world maps were established well before Columbus' voyage. Copies of the maps or derivatives were around in the 1500's showing details of Antarctica and the coastlines of eastern South America, well beyond the reach of the voyages of Columbus or Philip the Navigator. What is most remarkable is that the Chinese maps, and their derivatives, show accurate longitude centuries before the Harrison chronometers enabled the determination of longitude at sea. Another method of determining longitude for *mapping purposes* is based on observation of the eclipses of the moon, or transits of the moons of Jupiter. Contrary to popular legend, Galileo was not the first to observe the moons of Jupiter. The Chinese did so centuries earlier. It has been recently confirmed that a good human eye under ideal seeing conditions can perceive Jupiter as a disc and can perceive the moons under right conditions -- again, dig down into the 1421 website for the contemporary story. Galileo's telescope wasn't all that good, either. These methods don't help to know where you are while at sea, but with care you can take data that will enable you to know where you were when you get back home. As for Columbus, I might be a bit off, since I'm following the other story. He may have seen the maps, or copies, but did not have the navigational skill of the Chinese fleet decades earlier. The Chinese apparently did not get to Europe by sailing across the Atlantic, but they got to Antarctica and left traces of their presence up and down both coasts of the Americas. The 1421 story is a whole new look. Before concluding what could or could not be, it is worthwhile to read the book and the website and see the accumulation of evidence. It is a most remarkable story. Mike Carrell > > > >
