false 2 3 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 11 12:29:16 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 10:41:26 -0700 2007 The part of his theory I can buy is that the Chinese didn't stop at East Africa. They sailed around the southern tip, up the west coast, and across to Brazil. Then they bumped around the coasts of what is now Brazil and Argentina and then sailed back to the Indian Ocean. Makes sense. They were told to sail as far as they could and explore, and they had the ships to do it. Plus they were mapping the southern stars and learning about navigation.
But the author doesn't stop there. He says, basically, that the fleet split up and then sailed, literally, everywhere else in the world. One group went up the east coast and explored everything from Puerto Rico to Greenland, one group explored Mexico and California, one group explored Antarctica(!) and Australia. Basically, the Chinese went EVERYWHERE.....except Europe. For some reason, they didn't stop anywhere in Europe. At all. Even though they knew there were countries there they could trade with.
Plus whenever this guy sees a map that doesn't help his story, he comes up with some excuse, including gems such as "they must have seen an iceberg and thought it was an island" or "they must have traveled by these islands at night and accidentally thought they were a continent". Right.
I can't say it's not an interesting read though. I'd say read it and decide for yourself how much of this guy's elaborate story you are willing to buy into. ]]>