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| {{Use British English|date=August 2015}} | |||
| {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2012}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2012}} | ||
| {{Infobox writer | {{Infobox writer | ||
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| | death_place = | | death_place = | ||
| | nationality = English | | nationality = English | ||
| | occupation = Author, |
| occupation = History Author, British Royal Navy Submarine Commander | ||
| | spouse = Marcella Menzies | | spouse = Marcella Menzies | ||
| | relations = | | relations = | ||
| | genre = ] | | genre = ], ] | ||
| | notableworks = *''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'' (2002) | | notableworks = *''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'' (2002) | ||
| *''1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance'' (2008) | *''1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance'' (2008) | ||
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| }} | }} | ||
| '''Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies''' (born 14 August 1937)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3481200238.html |title=Contemporary Authors: Gavin Menzies |publisher=Highbeam Research |year=2006 |accessdate=24 March 2011}}</ref> is a British historical author and retired ] ] ] ] who has written history books based upon his discovery of old ] and historical documents that provide some proof that the ] ] sailed to America before Columbus. The response to his book in the academic community has been mixed with some historians rejecting Menzies' theories and assertions while other academics and historians have expressed strong support for his discoveries. | |||
| '''Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies''' (born 14 August 1937)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3481200238.html |title=Contemporary Authors: Gavin Menzies |publisher=Highbeam Research |year=2006 |accessdate=24 March 2011}}</ref> is a British author and retired ] ] who has written books promoting claims that the Chinese sailed to America before Columbus. Historians have rejected Menzies' theories and assertions<ref name="reuters columbus"/><ref>{{Citation | title = The 1421 myth exposed | url = http://www.1421exposed.com/ | accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery |url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/2004-09/tales.html |accessdate=2007-03-22 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317044419/http://www.csicop.org/sb/2004-09/tales.html |archivedate=17 March 2007 |deadurl=yes |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = 1421: The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies | url = http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/arb/article.php?article=201 | accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref><ref name=finlay2004>{{harvnb|Finlay|2004}}</ref><ref>Goodman, David S. G. (2006): "Mao and The Da Vinci Code: Conspiracy, Narrative and History", ''The Pacific Review'', Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 359–384 (367–372)</ref> and have categorised his work as ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fritze|first=Ronald H.|title=Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions|year=2011|edition=Reprint|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1861898173|pages=12, 19|url=https://books.google.com/?id=l2BrqdFg5AkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Gavin+menzies+pseudohistory+Fritze#v=onepage&q=Gavin%20menzies%20pseudohistory%20Fritze&f=false}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Melleuish|first=Greg|author2=Sheiko, Konstantin |author3=Brown, Stephen |title=Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet|journal=History Compass|date=1 November 2009|volume=7|issue=6|pages=1484–1495|doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00649.x|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00649.x/abstract|accessdate=10 October 2013|authorlink=Gregory Melleuish|publisher=Wiley}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Henige|first=David|title=The Alchemy of Turning Fiction into Truth|journal=Journal of Scholarly Publishing|date=July 2008|volume=39|issue=4|pages=354–372|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_scholarly_publishing/v039/39.4.henige.pdf|accessdate=10 October 2013|authorlink=David Henige|doi=10.3138/jsp.39.4.354}}</ref> | |||
| He is best known for his controversial book ''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'', in which he |
He is best known for his controversial history book ''']''', in which he provides discoveries, ], old documents and old ] that provide some tangible evidence that the naval fleets of ] ] ] prior to European explorer ] in 1492, and that the same fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of ]. Menzies' second book, ''']''' extended his discovery and showed evidence the ] had sailed to ] ] and transmitted some ] and ] to ], thus helping to stimulate the beginnings of the ] in ] ]. In his third book, ''The Lost Empire of Atlantis'', Menzies claims that ] did exist, in the form of the ], and that it maintained a global seaborne empire extending to the shores of America and India, millennia before actual contact in the ]. | ||
| ==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
| Menzies was born in London, England, and his family moved to China when he was three weeks old.<ref name=4corners>{{Citation |title = Interview with Gavin Menzies| url = http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2006/s1702333.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-22 |publisher = ]}}</ref> He was educated at Orwell Park Preparatory School in ], and ].<ref name="Times Guide">"The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970", Times Newspapers Ltd, 1970, p. 231.</ref> Menzies joined the ] in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970. Menzies |
Menzies was born in London, England, and his family moved to ] when he was three weeks old.<ref name=4corners>{{Citation |title = Interview with Gavin Menzies| url = http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2006/s1702333.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-22 |publisher = ]}}</ref> He was educated at Orwell Park Preparatory School in ], and ].<ref name="Times Guide">"The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970", Times Newspapers Ltd, 1970, p. 231.</ref> Menzies joined the ] in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970. Menzies, serving as a British Royal Navy submarine officer sailed the routes that had previously been sailed by ] and ], while he was commanding officer of the ] {{HMS|Rorqual|S02|6}} between 1968 and 1970,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officers_nonWW2.html#M |title=Naval Officers (RN, RNR & RNVR) 20th Century (non-World War II) |first1=Hans |last1=Houterman |first2=Jeroen |last2=Koppes |work=unithistories.com |year=2011 |quote=1968-1970, Commanding Officer, HMS Rorqual |accessdate=23 June 2011}}</ref> a contention questioned by some of his critics.<ref>{{Citation | title = Challenges to Menzies' nautical experience | url = http://www.1421exposed.com/html/library_of_congress.html | accessdate = 2007-03-22}}; see particularly note five of the Appendix.</ref> | ||
| In 1959, |
In 1959, Menzies was a ] naval officer on the ''{{HMS|Newfoundland|59|6}}'', on a maritime voyage from ] to ], around the ], and on to the ] and back to ]. Due to his extensive ] navigational experience in the British navy, Menzies gained the complex knowledge of the wind patterns, currents, and sea conditions on this voyage which was essential to reconstructing the ] that he discusses in his first book.<ref>Gavin Menzies, ''1421: The Year China Discovered America'' (2008 ed.), p. 113</ref> ; see Appendix.</ref> In 1969, Menzies was involved in an incident in the ], when the ''Rorqual'' rammed a ] ], the ] which was moored at a pier. This collision punched a hole in the ''Endurance'' but did not damage the ''Rorqual''. The ensuing enquiry found Menzies and one of his subordinates responsible for a combination of factors that led to the accident, including the absence of the ] (who usually takes the helm in port) who had been replaced by a less experienced crew member, and technical issues with the boat's telegraph.<ref name=4corners /><ref>{{Citation | title = Enquiry regarding the collision of the USS ''Endurance'' and ''Rorqual'' | url = http://www.ussendurance.org/Rorqurl%20incident.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> | ||
| Menzies retired the following year, and stood unsuccessfully as an ] candidate in ] during the ], where—standing against ]—he called for unrestricted immigration to Great Britain, drawing 0.2% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times|articlename=Immigrant girl will vote in despair—Powellism |author=Peter Evans |section=News |day_of_week=Friday |date=5 June 1970 |page_number=9 |issue=57888 |column=C }}</ref> In 1990, Menzies began researching Chinese maritime history.<ref>Gavin Menzies, 11 May 2007; retrieved 22 March 2011.</ref><ref> 1 Aug. 2008; retrieved 22 March 2011.</ref><ref> 29 Dec. 2008; retrieved 22 Mar. 2011.</ref> |
Menzies retired from the British navy the following year, and stood unsuccessfully as an ] candidate in ] during the ], where—standing against ]—he called for unrestricted immigration to Great Britain, drawing 0.2% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times|articlename=Immigrant girl will vote in despair—Powellism |author=Peter Evans |section=News |day_of_week=Friday |date=5 June 1970 |page_number=9 |issue=57888 |column=C }}</ref> In 1990, Menzies began researching Chinese maritime history.<ref>Gavin Menzies, 11 May 2007; retrieved 22 March 2011.</ref><ref> 1 Aug. 2008; retrieved 22 March 2011.</ref><ref> 29 Dec. 2008; retrieved 22 Mar. 2011.</ref> <ref>{{Citation | ||
| | last = Ptak | | last = Ptak | ||
| | first = Roderich | | first = Roderich | ||
| Line 48: | Line 47: | ||
| | pages = 9–35 (12) | | pages = 9–35 (12) | ||
| }}</ref><ref name="Global Times"/> | }}</ref><ref name="Global Times"/> | ||
| Menzies trained as a barrister, but in 1996 he was declared a ] by ] which prohibits him from taking legal action in England and Wales without prior judicial permission.<ref>{{Citation |last=Goodman |first=David S. G. |year=2006 |title=Mao and The Da Vinci Code: Conspiracy, Narrative and History |journal=The Pacific Review |volume=19 |pages=359–384 (371f.) |url=http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a757572630~frm=titlelink |accessdate=14 March 2011 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/09512740600875135 |postscript=.}}</ref><ref>http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/vexatious-litigants/index.htm UK Justice list of vexatious litigants</ref> Menzies is an honorary professor at ] in China.<ref name="Global Times">, 13 Apr. 2011, retrieved 25 May 2011.</ref> | Menzies trained as a barrister, but in 1996 he was declared a ] by ] which prohibits him from taking legal action in England and Wales without prior judicial permission.<ref>{{Citation |last=Goodman |first=David S. G. |year=2006 |title=Mao and The Da Vinci Code: Conspiracy, Narrative and History |journal=The Pacific Review |volume=19 |pages=359–384 (371f.) |url=http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a757572630~frm=titlelink |accessdate=14 March 2011 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/09512740600875135 |postscript=.}}</ref><ref>http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/vexatious-litigants/index.htm UK Justice list of vexatious litigants</ref> Menzies is an honorary professor at ] in the ].<ref name="Global Times">, 13 Apr. 2011, retrieved 25 May 2011.</ref> | ||
| ==''1421: The Year China Discovered the World''== | ==''1421: The Year China Discovered the World''== | ||
| In 2002, Menzies published his first book: ''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'' (published as ''1421: The Year China Discovered America'' in the United States). |
In 2002, Menzies published his first history book: ''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'' (published as ''1421: The Year China Discovered America'' in the United States). he book is written as a series of vignettes of Menzies' travels around the globe examining what he has provided as ] and ] evidence for his "1421 discovery", interspersed with some educated theories<ref name=finlay2004/> and description of the achievements of ] ]'s fleet. Menzies states in the introduction that the book is an attempt to answer the question: | ||
| <blockquote>On some early European world maps, it appears that someone had charted and surveyed lands |
<blockquote>On some early European world maps, it appears that someone had charted and surveyed lands that were previously unknown to the Europeans. Who could have charted and surveyed these lands before they were 'discovered'?</blockquote> | ||
| In the book, Menzies concludes that only China had the time, |
In the book, Menzies concludes that only ], being the worlds only ] at the time, had the ], time, enormous wealth, ], gigantic 400ft-600ft long ], huge manpower and ] leadership to send such expeditions around the world and then sets out to prove that the Chinese visited lands unknown in either ], ], ], ], ] and ]. He shows that from 1421 to 1423, during the ] of ] under ] ] the fleets of ], commanded by the ] ] ], ], ], and ], discovered ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], and the ]; circumnavigated ], tried to reach the North and South Poles, and circumnavigated the world before ]. The book has been published in many languages and countries around the world<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/magazine/05MENZIES.html |title=Goodbye, Columbus! - NYTimes.com |first=Jack |last=Hitt |work=] |date=5 January 2003 |issn=0362-4331 |quote=rights |accessdate=12 March 2011}}</ref> and was listed as a '']'' best seller for several weeks in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/26/books/best-sellers-january-26-2003.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm |title=BEST SELLERS: January 26, 2003 - Page 2 |first= |last= |work=] |date=26 January 2003 |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=12 March 2011}}</ref> Although the book contains numerous footnotes, references and acknowledgments, critics point out that it lacks supporting references for Chinese voyages beyond East Africa, the location acknowledged by professional historians as the limit of the fleet's travels.<ref name="1421expLoC"/> Menzies bases his main theory on original interpretations and extrapolations of academic studies of minority population DNA, archaeological finds and ancient maps. | ||
| Menzies |
Menzies shows historical evidence, backed up by old ] documents, that knowledge of ]'s discoveries was subsequently lost because the ] ] bureaucrats of the ] court feared that the costs of further voyages would ruin the Chinese economy. It is a well established historical fact that when ] died in 1424 and the new ] came to power he forbade further land or naval expeditions, the ] either hid or destroyed the records of previous exploration to discourage further voyages. {{Citation | ||
| <blockquote>The book is very interesting, but you still need more evidence. We don't regard it as an historical book, but as a narrative one. I want to see more proof. But at least Menzies has started something, and people could find more evidence.<ref>{{Citation | |||
| | last = Kolesnikov-Jessop | | last = Kolesnikov-Jessop | ||
| | first = Sonia | | first = Sonia | ||
| Line 63: | Line 61: | ||
| | journal = The New York Times | | journal = The New York Times | ||
| | date = 25 June 2005 | | date = 25 June 2005 | ||
| | url = |
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/arts/24iht-chinam.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 | ||
| | accessdate = 8 June 2010 | | accessdate = 8 June 2010 | ||
| | postscript = .}}</ref> | | postscript = .}}</ref> | ||
| </blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
| Within the academic world, the book (and Menzies' "1421 hypothesis") is both dismissed by some but supported by other ] and professional ]. | |||
| Within the academic world, the book (and Menzies' "1421 hypothesis") is dismissed by ] and professional historians.<ref name="1421exposed.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.1421exposed.com/ |title=The 1421 myth exposed |publisher=1421exposed.com |accessdate=2009-10-02}}</ref><ref name="csicop.org">{{Citation | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | url = http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/zheng_he_in_the_americas_and_other_unlikely_tales_of_exploration_and_discov/ | title = Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery | journal = ] | last = Newbrook | first = M | year = 2004 | accessdate = 2009-10-10 | postscript = .}}</ref><ref name="Gordon">{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/arb/article.php?article=201| title=1421: The Year China Discovered the World| publisher=The Asian Review of Books | last = Gordon | first = P | date = 2003-01-30 | accessdate = 2009-10-09}}</ref> In 2004, historian Robert Finlay severely criticized Menzies in the '']'' for his "reckless manner of dealing with evidence" that led him to propose hypotheses "without a shred of proof".<ref name=finlay2004/> Finlay wrote: | |||
| <blockquote>Unfortunately, this reckless manner of dealing with evidence is typical of ''1421'', vitiating all its extraordinary claims: the voyages it describes never took place, Chinese information never reached Prince Henry and Columbus, and there is no evidence of the Ming fleets in newly discovered lands. The fundamental assumption of the book—that the Yongle Emperor dispatched the Ming fleets because he had a "grand plan", a vision of charting the world and creating a maritime empire spanning the oceans—is simply asserted by Menzies without a shred of proof ... The reasoning of ''1421'' is inexorably circular, its evidence spurious, its research derisory, its borrowings unacknowledged, its citations slipshod, and its assertions preposterous ... Examination of the book's central claims reveals they are uniformly without substance.<ref>{{harvnb|Finlay|2004|pp=241f.}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
| A group of scholars and navigators—Su Ming Yang of the United States, Jin Guo-Ping and Malhão Pereira of Portugal, Philip Rivers of Malaysia, Geoff Wade of Singapore—questioned Menzies' methods and findings in a joint message:<ref name="1421expLoC">{{Cite web| last = Gui-Ping | first= J |author2=Pereira, M |author3=Rivers PJ |author4=Ming-Yang S |author5=Wade G | url = http://www.1421exposed.com/html/library_of_congress.html | title = Joint Statement on the Claims by Gavin Menzies Regarding the Zheng He Voyages | year = 2006 | accessdate = 2009-10-10 | publisher = 1421exposed.com }}</ref> | |||
| <blockquote>His book ''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'', is a work of sheer fiction presented as revisionist history. Not a single document or artifact has been found to support his new claims on the supposed Ming naval expeditions beyond Africa...Menzies' numerous claims and the hundreds of pieces of "evidence" he has assembled have been thoroughly and entirely discredited by historians, maritime experts and oceanographers from China, the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.<ref name="1421expLoC"/></blockquote> | |||
| ==''1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance''== | ==''1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance''== | ||
| In 2008 Menzies released a second book entitled ''1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance''. In it Menzies |
In 2008 Menzies released a second book entitled ''']'''. In it Menzies provides evidence that in 1434 A.D. ] reached ] and brought books, ] as well as ] and ] that, to a great extent, launched the ] in ] ]. He provides a letter written in 1474 by ] and found amongst the private papers of ] indicates that an earlier ] had ] with ] in ]. | ||
| Menzies then |
Menzies then shows that the ancient historical books from the ] '']'', the '']'', published in 1313 by the ] scholar-official ] (fl. 1290–1333), were possibly copied by ] scholars and provided direct inspiration for the illustrations of mechanical devices which are attributed to the ] ]s ] (1382–1453) and ] (1452–1519). | ||
| Amongst scholars, historians and academics, the book (and Menzies' "1421 hypothesis") is both dismissed by some but has also received support by other ], ] and professional ]. | |||
| ], a professor of history at ] in the United States and at ], examined Menzies' claim that private papers of Columbus indicate a Chinese ambassador in correspondence with the Pope and called this claim "drivel." He states that no reputable scholar supports the view that Toscanelli's letter refers to a Chinese ambassador.<ref name="reuters columbus">{{cite news|title=Columbus debunker sets sights on Leonardo da Vinci |first=Tim |last=Castle |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL242804420080729 |newspaper=Reuters |agency=Reuters |location=London, UK |date=29 July 2008 |accessdate=26 January 2011 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5w2WrylLX?url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL242804420080729 |archivedate=27 January 2011 |deadurl=yes |df=dmy }}</ref> ], Professor of the History of Art at ], questions the rigor of Menzies' application of the ], and in regard to European illustrations purporting to be copied from the Chinese ''Nong Shu'', writes that Menzies "says something is a copy just because they look similar. He says two things are almost identical when they are not."<ref name="reuters columbus"/> | |||
| In regard to Menzies' theory that Taccola's sketches are based on Chinese information, Captain P.J. Rivers writes that Menzies contradicts himself by saying elsewhere in his book that Taccola had started his work on his technical sketches in 1431, when Zheng He's fleet was still assembled in China, and that the Italian engineer finished his technical sketches in 1433—one year before the purported arrival of the Chinese fleet.<ref>The 1421 myth exposed: , retrieved 13 June 2012.</ref> Geoff Wade, a senior research fellow at the of the ], acknowledges that there was a cross exchange of technological ideas between Europe and China, but ultimately classifies Menzies' book as ] and asserts that there is "absolutely no Chinese evidence" for a maritime venture to Italy in 1434.<ref name="reuters columbus"/> | |||
| Albrecht Heeffer investigated Menzies' claim that ] based his solution to the ] on the Chinese work '']'' from 1247. He arrived at the conclusion that the solution method does not depend on this text but on the earlier ] as does the treatment of a similar problem by ] which predates the ''Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections''. Furthermore, Regiomontanus could rely on practices with remainder tables from the abacus tradition.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heeffer |first1=Albrecht |year=2008 |title=Regiomontanus and Chinese Mathematics |journal=Philosophica |volume=82 |pages=87–114 |url=http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=abstract&id=846503 |accessdate= }}</ref> | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{Reflist| |
{{Reflist|2}} | ||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| Line 94: | Line 84: | ||
| ; Criticism | ; Criticism | ||
| * — Website set up by an international group of academics and researchers | * — Website set up by an international group of academics and researchers | ||
| *{{Citation | last = Finlay | first = Robert | url = http://www.michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/1421.pdf | title = How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America | doi = 10.1353/jwh.2004.0018 | journal = ] | volume = 15 | issue = 2 |
*{{Citation | last = Finlay | first = Robert | url = http://www.michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/1421.pdf | title = How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America | doi = 10.1353/jwh.2004.0018 | journal = ] | volume = 15 | issue = 2 | year = 2004}} | ||
| * {{Citation | last=Wade | first=Geoff | year=2007 |url=http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_2_4/Wade.pdf| title=The "Liu/Menzies" World Map: A Critique |journal=E-Perimetron |pages=273–280| issn=1790-3769 |volume=2 |issue=4,}} | * {{Citation | last=Wade | first=Geoff | year=2007 |url=http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_2_4/Wade.pdf| title=The "Liu/Menzies" World Map: A Critique |journal=E-Perimetron |pages=273–280| issn=1790-3769 |volume=2 |issue=4,}} | ||
| * In the Hall of Ma'at. Weighing the Evidence for Alternative History: | * In the Hall of Ma'at. Weighing the Evidence for Alternative History: | ||
| {{Authority control}} | {{Authority control|VIAF=12587889}} | ||
| {{Persondata | |||
| |NAME=Menzies, Gavin | |||
| |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Menzies, Rowan Gavin Paton | |||
| |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Naval officer, author | |||
| |DATE OF BIRTH=14 August 1937 | |||
| |PLACE OF BIRTH=London, United Kingdom | |||
| |DATE OF DEATH= | |||
| |PLACE OF DEATH= | |||
| }} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Menzies, Gavin}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Menzies, Gavin}} | ||
| ] | ] | ||
Revision as of 00:19, 12 July 2017
| Gavin Menzies | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies (1937-08-14) 14 August 1937 (age 87) London |
| Occupation | History Author, British Royal Navy Submarine Commander |
| Nationality | English |
| Genre | History, Non-Fiction |
| Notable works |
|
| Spouse | Marcella Menzies |
Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies (born 14 August 1937) is a British historical author and retired British Royal Navy submarine lieutenant-commander who has written history books based upon his discovery of old maps and historical documents that provide some proof that the Han Chinese Ming navy dragon fleet sailed to America before Columbus. The response to his book in the academic community has been mixed with some historians rejecting Menzies' theories and assertions while other academics and historians have expressed strong support for his discoveries.
He is best known for his controversial history book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, in which he provides discoveries, genetic evidence, old documents and old maps that provide some tangible evidence that the naval fleets of Ming Chinese Admiral Zheng He visited the Americas prior to European explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, and that the same fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Menzies' second book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance extended his discovery and showed evidence the Ming Chinese Navy Dragon Fleet had sailed to post-Dark Age Europe and transmitted some Chinese science and Chinese technology to Europe, thus helping to stimulate the beginnings of the Renaissance in post-Dark Age Europe. In his third book, The Lost Empire of Atlantis, Menzies claims that Atlantis did exist, in the form of the Minoan Civilization, and that it maintained a global seaborne empire extending to the shores of America and India, millennia before actual contact in the Age of Discovery.
Biography
Menzies was born in London, England, and his family moved to China when he was three weeks old. He was educated at Orwell Park Preparatory School in Ipswich, and Charterhouse School. Menzies joined the Royal Navy in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970. Menzies, serving as a British Royal Navy submarine officer sailed the routes that had previously been sailed by Ferdinand Magellan and James Cook, while he was commanding officer of the diesel submarine HMS Rorqual between 1968 and 1970, a contention questioned by some of his critics.
In 1959, Menzies was a British naval officer on the HMS Newfoundland, on a maritime voyage from Singapore to Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and on to the Cape Verde Islands and back to England. Due to his extensive maritime navigational experience in the British navy, Menzies gained the complex knowledge of the wind patterns, currents, and sea conditions on this voyage which was essential to reconstructing the 1421 Ming Chinese navy voyages that he discusses in his first book. ; see Appendix.</ref> In 1969, Menzies was involved in an incident in the Philippines, when the Rorqual rammed a U.S. Navy minesweeper, the USS Endurance, which was moored at a pier. This collision punched a hole in the Endurance but did not damage the Rorqual. The ensuing enquiry found Menzies and one of his subordinates responsible for a combination of factors that led to the accident, including the absence of the coxswain (who usually takes the helm in port) who had been replaced by a less experienced crew member, and technical issues with the boat's telegraph.
Menzies retired from the British navy the following year, and stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in Wolverhampton South West during the United Kingdom general election 1970, where—standing against Enoch Powell—he called for unrestricted immigration to Great Britain, drawing 0.2% of the vote. In 1990, Menzies began researching Chinese maritime history. Menzies trained as a barrister, but in 1996 he was declared a vexatious litigant by HM Courts Service which prohibits him from taking legal action in England and Wales without prior judicial permission. Menzies is an honorary professor at Yunnan University in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
1421: The Year China Discovered the World
In 2002, Menzies published his first history book: 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (published as 1421: The Year China Discovered America in the United States). he book is written as a series of vignettes of Menzies' travels around the globe examining what he has provided as archaeological and historical evidence for his "1421 discovery", interspersed with some educated theories and description of the achievements of Admiral Zheng He's fleet. Menzies states in the introduction that the book is an attempt to answer the question:
On some early European world maps, it appears that someone had charted and surveyed lands that were previously unknown to the Europeans. Who could have charted and surveyed these lands before they were 'discovered'?
In the book, Menzies concludes that only Ming China, being the worlds only superpower at the time, had the scientific knowledge, time, enormous wealth, technology, gigantic 400ft-600ft long Treasure ships, huge manpower and intelligent leadership to send such expeditions around the world and then sets out to prove that the Chinese visited lands unknown in either Southeast Asia, Australia, India, Arabia, Africa and Europe. He shows that from 1421 to 1423, during the Ming Dynasty of China under Emperor Zhu Di the fleets of Admiral Zheng He, commanded by the Han Chinese captains Zhou Wen, Zhou Man, Yang Qing, and Hong Bao, discovered Australia, New Zealand, Africa, India, Arabia, the Americas, Antarctica, and the Northeast Passage; circumnavigated Greenland, tried to reach the North and South Poles, and circumnavigated the world before Ferdinand Magellan. The book has been published in many languages and countries around the world and was listed as a New York Times best seller for several weeks in 2003. Although the book contains numerous footnotes, references and acknowledgments, critics point out that it lacks supporting references for Chinese voyages beyond East Africa, the location acknowledged by professional historians as the limit of the fleet's travels. Menzies bases his main theory on original interpretations and extrapolations of academic studies of minority population DNA, archaeological finds and ancient maps.
Menzies shows historical evidence, backed up by old Ming Chinese documents, that knowledge of Zheng He's discoveries was subsequently lost because the Confucian Mandarin bureaucrats of the Imperial court feared that the costs of further voyages would ruin the Chinese economy. It is a well established historical fact that when Zhu Di died in 1424 and the new Hongxi Emperor came to power he forbade further land or naval expeditions, the Confucian Mandarin officials either hid or destroyed the records of previous exploration to discourage further voyages. Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia (25 June 2005), "Did Chinese beat out Columbus?", The New York Times, retrieved 8 June 2010.</ref>
Within the academic world, the book (and Menzies' "1421 hypothesis") is both dismissed by some but supported by other sinologists and professional historians.
1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance
In 2008 Menzies released a second book entitled 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance. In it Menzies provides evidence that in 1434 A.D. Ming Empire Chinese delegations reached Italy and brought books, technology and science as well as maps and globes that, to a great extent, launched the Renaissance in post-Dark Age Europe. He provides a letter written in 1474 by Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli and found amongst the private papers of Christopher Columbus indicates that an earlier Chinese ambassador had direct correspondence with Pope Eugene IV in Rome. Menzies then shows that the ancient historical books from the Han Chinese Book of Agriculture, the Nong Shu Technical Innovations, published in 1313 by the Yuan-dynasty scholar-official Wang Zhen (fl. 1290–1333), were possibly copied by European scholars and provided direct inspiration for the illustrations of mechanical devices which are attributed to the Italian Renaissance polymaths Taccola (1382–1453) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).
Amongst scholars, historians and academics, the book (and Menzies' "1421 hypothesis") is both dismissed by some but has also received support by other sinologists, archaeologists and professional historians.
References
- "Contemporary Authors: Gavin Menzies". Highbeam Research. 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ^ Interview with Gavin Menzies, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, retrieved 22 March 2007
- "The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970", Times Newspapers Ltd, 1970, p. 231.
- Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen (2011). "Naval Officers (RN, RNR & RNVR) 20th Century (non-World War II)". unithistories.com. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
1968-1970, Commanding Officer, HMS Rorqual
- Challenges to Menzies' nautical experience, retrieved 22 March 2007; see particularly note five of the Appendix.
- Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered America (2008 ed.), p. 113
- Enquiry regarding the collision of the USS Endurance and Rorqual, retrieved 22 March 2007
- Peter Evans (5 June 1970). "Immigrant girl will vote in despair—Powellism". News. The Times. No. 57888. London. col C, p. 9. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- Gavin Menzies, When the East Discovered the West 11 May 2007; retrieved 22 March 2011.
- Gavin Menzies: Mad as a Snake or a Visionary? 1 Aug. 2008; retrieved 22 March 2011.
- Did the Chinese Discover America? 29 Dec. 2008; retrieved 22 Mar. 2011.
- Ptak, Roderich; Salmon, Claudine (2005), "Zheng He: Geschichte und Fiktion", in Ptak, Roderich; Höllmann, Thomas O. (eds.), Zheng He. Images & Perceptions, South China and Maritime Asia, vol. 15, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 9–35 (12)
- ^ Naval Historian Gavin Menzies' Unique Take on History, 13 Apr. 2011, retrieved 25 May 2011.
- Goodman, David S. G. (2006), "Mao and The Da Vinci Code: Conspiracy, Narrative and History", The Pacific Review, 19 (3): 359–384 (371f.), doi:10.1080/09512740600875135, retrieved 14 March 2011.
- http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/vexatious-litigants/index.htm UK Justice list of vexatious litigants
- Cite error: The named reference
finlay2004was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Hitt, Jack (5 January 2003). "Goodbye, Columbus! - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
rights
- "BEST SELLERS: January 26, 2003 - Page 2". The New York Times. 26 January 2003. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- Cite error: The named reference
1421expLoCwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
External links
- Gavin Menzies' website
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation's FOUR CORNERS Program Transcript of "Junk History"
- Criticism
- 1421 Exposed — Website set up by an international group of academics and researchers
- Finlay, Robert (2004), "How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America" (PDF), Journal of World History, 15 (2), doi:10.1353/jwh.2004.0018
- Wade, Geoff (2007), "The "Liu/Menzies" World Map: A Critique" (PDF), E-Perimetron, 2 (4, ): 273–280, ISSN 1790-3769
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - In the Hall of Ma'at. Weighing the Evidence for Alternative History: Gavin's Fantasy Land, 1421