This 1763 map is said to have been copied from another map created in 1418, at a time when the eminent Chinese navigator Zheng He sailed around the world with a flotilla of 300 wooden ships (photo: Frederic J. B).
In January 2006, world news agencies spread another "sensational news": an ancient Chinese map was discovered, which once again calls into question the primacy of Columbus in the discovery of America, and which the Chinese collector Liu Gang acquired in 2001 in an antique shop in Shanghai for five hundred dollars. The map dates back to 1763, but has the inscription: "This map was drawn by Mo Yi Tong, a subject of the Qing dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Gong Li in 1763 according to the original map of 1418"! This is 74 years before the arrival of Columbus in the New World, but both Americas are already shown on the Chinese map. Moreover, both coasts are both western and eastern (see the picture above).
Once again, heated debates have surfaced about who should be considered the "discoverer of America." The version that the Chinese were the first to reach the New World is zealously defended by the American historian, retired US Navy captain Gavin Mencies, author of the book "1421: The Year of America's Exploration by China." In his opinion, they even made a trip around the world in 1421-1423.
As proof, the historian cites facts that the first European explorers of America wrote that the Indians plant rice, raise Chinese chickens and use porcelain
There are other prerequisites for such conclusions. China in the 15th century had a powerful fleet, led by the famous Chinese navigator, Admiral Zheng He, who undertook very long expeditions. For example, the record of Zheng He about his arrival on the Somali coast of Africa in 1418 has been preserved: "Finally, in the blue haze of the morning dawn, the lands of the barbarians opened up to our eyes." It was a long journey - He's flotilla sailed 10,000 km. If He sailed the same amount from China to the East, he would have only a few hundred kilometers to America.
Of course, there are also opponents of this point of view. Zheng He's flotilla would have to traverse nearly a third of the globe in circumference. In addition, it is also across the ocean, which is considered quiet in name only - storms and storms occur here much more often than in other regions. And the admiral himself never mentions any expeditions to America.
In 1405, Zheng He received over 300 ships and 30,000 sailors, soldiers and scientists under his command. Multi-deck nine-masted frigates escorted transport ships that carried army, food and horses. The squadron even had fresh water tankers. For 28 years, Zheng He's flotilla visited Indonesia, India, the Arabian Peninsula, and in Africa reached Zanzibar. The maps compiled on these expeditions are collected together in a thick manuscript. On them, according to the head of the China Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Bokshchanin, “the route of movement of ships, which all the time goes along the coast, is indicated in detail. Distances between sites are given, characteristics of the coast are given. But none of them even has a hint of a trip to America."
Another skeptics argument: the map is too close to modern. This simply could not have been in the Middle Ages. Moreover: it depicts not only both Americas, but also Antarctica, discovered 400 years later than the expeditions under the command of Zheng He. And even if we assume that the famous admiral managed to get to America, then he certainly could not draw such a map. After all, taking into account its details, he needed not only to reach some coast, but to thoroughly survey the entire coast of three new continents at once!..
Promotional video:
The skeptics' arguments are compelling. But the map does exist!.. And if Zheng He is not the author of the original, which Mo Yi Tong refers to, then who?.. And when was the original compiled?..
However, the Chinese map also depicts Antarctica in addition to America. And judging by the accuracy of the image, it can be assumed that the ancients knew the length of the equator, understood that the Earth was flattened at the poles, etc. In addition, the map shows the islands that went under water several millennia ago, a land bridge connecting Alaska and Siberia, and the coast of Antarctica, free of glaciers, are drawn! In short, much of what neither the Sumerians nor the Egyptians could know about.
Studying the Chinese map, scientists came to the conclusion that the center of the projection of the original source was on the territory of modern Cairo. The most ancient "religious" center of Heliopolis and the Giza complex were located here, the owner of which was considered by the ancient Egyptians to be the god Osiris. According to the Egyptian historian Manetho, the reign of Osiris falls on the middle of the 10th millennium BC. That is, for the period of gradual climate change after the Flood. Thus, it turns out that the author of the primary source map is the civilization of the ancient gods, which possessed fantastic knowledge and capabilities.
Experts have yet to make a final verdict on the authenticity of the Chinese card. However, the option is absolutely not excluded that it is not at all some later fake. It is also possible that the original of 1418 really existed. The fact is that this card is far from the only example of cards “which should not be there, but they are”.
Let's remember more about the Mystery of the Piri Reis map:
or for example, here is the "Fool's Cap Map" - one of the biggest mysteries of cartography:
and of course the Maps of Great Tartary:
Here you can see 200 ancient maps in good resolution -