Review by Dr. Kui-On Lui, Professor Emeritus, Windsor University, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Atlantis was Sweden (1), and the Chinese came to the Americas long before the Europeans! Why not? Why not indeed! The former may be a dream of the midnight sun, but the latter claim is not at all that far-fetched. In 1972 Henriette Mertz published a book called Gods From the Far East: How the Chinese Discovered America (Ballantine Books) in which she demonstrated the links between China and North and Central America at least 4,000 years ago. Then in 2002 Gavin Menzies published 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (Bantam Press). Now Anatole Andro enters the arena with his The 1421 Heresy: An Investigation Into the Ming Chinese Survey of the World.

There have always been accounts of Chinese travels to other parts of the world, and not just ancient accounts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas (2250 B.C.) either. For example, at the time when Marco Polo and other Europeans made their trips to far-off places, some Chinese did the same too. But, as Joseph Needham of the University of Cambridge pointed out: “So great has been the fame of Marco Polo and the other European travelers of the 13th century that their Chinese counterparts who also made important journeys have generally been overlooked.” (2) The Chinese were adept at making maps too—a skill essential to geographical explorations. Commenting on a map of China carved in stone (1137, but probably dating from before 1100), Needham said: “Anyone who compared this map with the contemporary productions of European religious cosmography cannot but be amazed at the extent to which Chinese geography was at that time ahead of the West.” (3)

The history of discovery and explorations has been markedly Euro-centric. Any study that casts doubt on generally accepted theories will be controversial. But generally accepted theories can become just dogmas, and knowledge is not advanced through such fossilized positions.

Andro has assembled a massive body of evidence— many from Chinese sources—to support his case. His work brings another perspective to the history of discovery and explorations. It is informative and deserves at the very least an open-minded reception.

(1). David King, Finding Atlantis: A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World. Harmony Books, 2005.

(2). Joseph Needham, Science & Civilization in China, Vol. 111, p. 522.