Zheng He
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/24/1037697982893.html
Gavin Menzies, a 65-year-old self-confessed "outsider", has sparked heated academic debate by claiming the Chinese beat Europeans to the New World by decades, if not centuries.
If true, his theories would recast the holy trinity of European naval explorers - Captain Cook, Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan - as followers in the great wake of 15th century China's Admiral Zheng He and his fleet of colossal, nine-masted teak junks.
Released earlier this month, Menzies' book, 1421, the Year China Discovered The World, is likely to have a worldwide print run of a million copies. It sits next to Simon Schama's latest on Amazon's best-selling list for history.
