Zheng He and the Question of 1421

He bases his conjecture, amongst other evidences, on old maps, the most notable of which is known as the Pizzigano map. This map, a portolan chart of the Meditteranean created by Portuguese navigator Zuane Pizzigano in 1424, has intriguing detail in the far West.

There the mapmaker has drawn four islands, denoted as Antilia (colored red), Satanazes (in blue), Saya, and Yamana. Brightly colored, they stand out from the rest of the map, and they compel as to position; in the far west, to where no Europeans at that point had travelled. The Pizzigano chart details the earliest known portrayal of lands in the western Atlantic.

Portolans are known for being compilations of not only observation but to some degree, rumor and lore. As well as being visually striking given the rest of the map, Antilia and Satanazes must have leapt immediately out at Menzies; the rectangular shape of Antilia (which notably translates from the Portuguese to mean “island before [another land, perhaps a continent])in particular bears a certain resemblance to the modern-day island of Puerto Rico. As it happens, Antilia corresponds rather well. Menzies has nominated Satanazes as Guadeloupe, an identification that is weak at best, but is conceivable in as much that mapping conventions from those times are perhaps not clearly understood.

If one accepts that such charts are partially compiled from legend and lore, the obvious question is begged; where did the information come from? Menzies traced the travels of Pizzigano to Calicut, in India, and it was there, in 1424, where he believes that Pizzigano may have met Ma Huan, a member of the Treasure Fleet’s crew, and by this method the knowledge of the western Atlantic lands was transmitted to the Pizzigano charts. It would seem to follow from this assumption that, sometime prior to 1424, the Chinese may have visited regions that Europeans were not to visit for nearly three quarters of a century hence.

Menzies also builds his cartographic case on such well-known maps as the Walseemüller Map and the Fra Mauro Map, which seems to describe the transit of an Asian ship into the Atlantic ca. 1420.

Enter the Mo Yi Tong map

In 2001 a well-known Chinese attorney, Liu Gang, acquired a map from a small dealer in Shanghai for USD $500. This map, reportedly drafted in 1763, depicts familiarly-shaped land masses in an frame comprising two overlapping circles. Suggestions of Pacific islands and large masses such as Australia and New Zealand are easily recognized despite variations in size and position. Heavily notated in Chinese ideograms, the “Integrated Map of the World” is credited to a mapmaker identified as Mo Yi Tong, and claims to have been created in 1763, based on a map originally drawn in 1418.

The detail of the continents is striking, particularly that of the Americas. The positioning of an island off the western coast of the northern continent recalls the numerous maps created by early European cartographers that had California as an island. Hudson Bay is present, though its size is much reduced; river systems seem to be where one would find the Columbia, Saint Lawrence, and Mississippi-Missouri systems.

Most importantly, this map seems to offer strong support to the 1421 hypothesis. Liu Gang’s find became prominent after he read the Menzies book and contacted the author.

Net Yet Considered Credible

For what it seems to claim, however, the Mo Yi Tong map is not without its weaknesses.

For one example, the relative accuracy of the number and position of the land masses seems, to some, a little too good. The indication of an passage around the northern margin of North America were things that weren’t known to even the most proficient European sailors of the day, and there was no clear consensus over lands in the western Atlantic-the Pacific being much wider than the Atlantic, it seems reasonable to assume that the Chinese fleets would actually be less likely to traverse the Pacific before the Europeans had the Atlantic.

The date leads some to question: the map is reputed to have been copied from a 1418 account, three years before Admiral Zheng is believed to have made even one contact on the American shore. The detail shown suggests a great deal of time-consuming exploration.

Details also stand out for criticism. The style of depicting California as an island is, in this case, very nearly identical to styles used in French maps of the day. The description of Aboriginal Americans is also, non-surprisingly, facile:

The style and the execution have also been left open to question. The style of the notations is in easily-understandable Chinese characters with little hint of medieval style about them. The overall style of the map itself has been noted as being not typical of the Ming period, most notably the outline-with it’s overlapping circles footprint being reminiscent of a modern-day conception of eastern and western ‘hemispheres’ seems more a European touch than a Chinese. Also notable is the position of the Middle Kingdom itself; instead of square-on center, as is typical for Chinese maps, it is decidedly off-center.

In the historical record the account of this map is starkly noticeable by its absence. Extensive is the absence of European contact in it, which, if the Treasure Fleets visited Europe as the map seems to suggest, would have been well documented and such records maintained.

The authenticity of the map itself is still also open to question. Of the antique experts Liu contacted, a consensus apparently developed that the map itself was
likely more than 100 years old, but is currently being radiodated in pursuit of a more precise age attribution.

What The Map May Prove

In the end, even if the Mo Yi Tong map is proven authentic, it may prove nothing more than its own authenticity. Perhaps the largest weak spot in this map’s provenance is that it is reputed to be a copy of a map that was believed lost or destroyed some three hundred years before. Menzies case is made in a spirited way, but it will decidedly take more than the proof of this map’s authenticity to sway established historical record on the matter of Admiral Zheng’s travels

In the meantime, Menzies’ book and website on the hypothesis have become quite popular amongst the punters, the Mo Yi Tong map has gone on display in Beijing, and the stature of Zheng He has only appreicated in his homeland, with the Chinese government having mounted an official celebration of the Admiral’s first voyage on its 600th anniversary in 2003, spurred on by the idea that he could have circumnavigated the world, as advanced by Menzies and others.

But, it must be noted that the curators of the James Ford Bell Library, at the University of Minnesota, which houses the Pizzigano map, have a sage observation of their own:

To which can only be added a warning to the seeker of knowledge: caveat lector.

References and Further Reading

Presented in no particular order: