1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance (P.S.)

No one can doubt Gavin Menzies' enthusiasm. For years now, first with 1421 and now with 1434 (with hints of a third volume to come) he has striven to demonstrate that much of what is taken for granted to be of Western European origin is actually from China. Its a solid point with undeniable evidence behind it, much of which Menzies presents in really intriguing detal, but unfortunately he chooses to present it in an unwarrantedly sensational manner. In 1421 he claimed that giant Chinese fleets had circled the world. Now in 1434 he argues that the European Renaissance was triggered by a visit by a Chinese navy to Italy, bearing maps, machines, weapons, and many other gifts. Mr. Menzies presents evidence for Chinese contact with Europe, but unfortunately by limiting the contact to one year he obscures what should be better known: that there was substantial European contact with China, India, and the Middle East for centuries, and that many European "inventions" like the printing press are derived from earlier Asian developments.Mr. Menzies' enthusiasm is unquenchable, but again and again he can't produce evidence to back up his theories. For example, he spends a lot of time discussing maps which existed before 1492 but which depict the Americas, the Pacific Ocean, and other areas then unknown to Europeans. Unfortunately, he can't produce the originals of these maps, just copies from the 1500s or later, after the Americas had been discovered, thus allowing for editing and additions by the copyists. This is not to say Mr. Menzies doesn't have a point here. There are numerous intriguing maps like the Piri Reis which seem to show more knowledge of the world than Europeans are thought to have possessed at the time they were drawn, and historians find them difficult to explain away at times. Its unfortunate that Mr. Menzies focussed so narrowly on one year and one supposed Chinese visit to Italy as the source for so much of this knowledge. Speaking of the Chinese visit in 1434, Mr. Menzies cites as evidence numerous vague references by Europeans to travelers from the East who brought knowledge and gifts over many centuries. Again, his argument would have been so much stronger had he not tried to link the entire Renaissance to that one voyage in 1434. And speaking of that voyage, isn't it odd that no one in Italy, the most literate area in Europe at the time, left descriptions of what must have been the impressive sight of many enormous Chinese junks anchoring in Venice and dozens of Chinese officials parading through the streets of Florence? Sometimes Mr. Menzies actually does offer evidence, supposedly to support his thesis, that actually refutes it. A good example deals with Chinese and Mongolian DNA appearing in European populations along the Adriatic Sea. Mr. Menzies attributes all of that to that one 1434 voyage even though he also mentions in the same chapter that there were many slaves of East Asian origin living around the Mediterranea at the time.I like Gavin Menzies. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I deeply respect his years of service as a naval and submarine officer in the British navy. Although I feel he jumps to some unwarranted and fanciful conclusions, he has done a good service to history by helping to make the public at large better aware of the many contributions China and the rest of Asia have made to world civilization. Those interested in learning more about China's gifts to the world will enjoy Simon Winchester's new book The Man Who Loved China.

I am a Gavin Menzies fan! I have read all three of his books and each one has taught me something new. In this book he discusses at length the technology that da Vinci and others are credited with for inventing and how it’s entirely possible that they were copying from the Chinese. Also discusses ocean navigation and maps. Another fascinating read!

I read 1421 and bought 1434 awhile ago. I couldn't get past the first few chapters. It took a recent vacation with a new tablet to get me back into it. I haven't finished it but I'm writing a review after reading all the reviewers who completely shut down the theories Menzies proposed because they were not backed by written histories or historians who invested their entire life in the histories as they're written now.Menzies' books can be dry when he goes into all the discussions about naval navigation or scientific comparisons. That's the reason why I have to read it over a long time span. But I find them interesting because of the provocative theories he put forth. They challeng the Euro-centric view of history. I think his critics missed the point entirely. He's not writing history (so please get your nose back in the joint). He's coming up theories based on the researches he and others did. A lot of his theories have not been "proven" but all new discoveries start from theories, right?Being a history lover, especially a history buff of Chinese history, Zheng He's seven voyages are in Chinese history book. What is in dispute is how far they went. Unfortunately, they named countries/regions/places they visited not by today's names (:-)), but by names they probably invented...in Chinese. Could they have gone beyond eastern Africa and gone to land with no name and no inhabitant? Could they have crashed on some unexplored lands and never come back to tell the tale? Why is this an impossibility?China was ahead of Europe before the 15th century in science and agriculture. China invented many things ahead of Europeans, e.g. gunpowder, printing, paper etc. Those are indisputable either. Why is it such an impossibility that Chinese inventions were transferred to Europe in the 15th century? It could be by the Chinese fleet as Menzies proposed or it could be other means. I found it fascinating that some of the designs by Da Vinci in his notebook were similar to Chinese invention. Another proof Menzies cited is DNA researches of Asian genes in Hvar, Croatia and Americas. Menzies said more DNA researches were in progress. I'm very curious to learn the results.I often found the Euro-centric view of history text books taught in the U.S. and Europe and the ignorance of Asian, especially Chinese history in these history books dismal. I think some of the out-right rejection of ideas posted by Menzies reflects the deep-rooted skewed view of human history. Eventually, DNA researches probably will be the final and concrete proof of human migration, Chinese or European or others, on this planet. Before the DNA mapping of all continents is in, we can read Menzies's books and contemplate the possibility of what happened. If you don't want to read anything beyond what you learned in the history text books, then don't buy Menzies's books. It's that simple. No need to buy his books and then have an indigestion on how far he deviated from the history books. You're missing the point.

A fascinating theory, appearingly well researched.

Curioso e instrutivo, vale a pena. Mas tem um pouco demais de adivinhações e suposições

It opens your mind with the vast researches confirming that Chinese kindled the enlightenment.As westerns we have to accept that Chinese had a better knowledge of the world 600 years ago.

Esse senhor deve ser apenas um testa de ferro para uma série fraudulenta de livros que não deveriam ser oferecidos como produtos sérios. O tema é muito atraente, mas aos poucos a desconfiança se torna em decepção à menor consulta online em busca de uma mínima veracidade.

Still looking for supporting evidence of a Red Sea to the Nile canal in the time of the Pharaohs. The rest of the conclusions are sensible and not dependent on the canal as the Chinese could have traveled overland and taken another ship to cross the Mediterranean sea. An interesting read