Key to the Discoveries – The determination of Latitude and Longitude
• The extraordinary precision of the southern portion of the Piri Reis map showing Patagonia’s coast, the Falklands, South Shetlands and South Sandwich Islands.
• Not only is the coast perfectly drawn but animals unique to South America – huemils, guanacos and the mylodon – appear. (They also appear in the Iyü Thu Chih – i.e. they were known to the Chinese before Europeans got to South America.)
• The Piri Reis was drawn 400 years before Europeans reached Antarctica. It shows the Andes as far north as Ecuador.
• The precision of the Piri Reis coupled with the extent of the coastline from the equator to the Antarctic can only mean the cartography was carried out by:
i) People who could determine latitude even in the Antarctic
ii) Dozens of ships surveying simultaneously
iii) This was achieved long before European explorers set sail for South America.
• Who but the Chinese with six centuries of experience of ocean navigation could have reached the Antarctic?
• Is there any evidence? Yes – Chinese records claim their fleets reached both North Pole (30 claims) and South Pole (5 claims) (Professor Wei) (para. 9 refers).
• Zheng He’s passage charts of the Antarctic, discovered recently in Hong Kong.
• Do Chinese navigational and star charts provide the answer? The most notable is the Wu Pei Chih. The problem is the Wu Pei Chih has been amended over the years and not all the amendments have been dated.
• Dating the Wu Pei Chih amendments
Chinese sailing instructions (Wu Pei Chih) give the course to steer between Dondra Head (Ceylon) and Sumatra. By a very fortunate coincidence, this course is due east. The current latitude of their track is 06º N. However, Chinese navigators were advised to keep Polaris 1 chih above the horizon. This means there is a difference of 3º 40’ between the position of Polaris in Wu Pei Chih and its position today. Using Microsoft Starry Night computer program (which enables the position of the stars in the night sky to be determined every night for the past two millennia) also enables us to date the Wu Pei Chih to 1420-30 (Polaris’ apparent position changes 10 every 175 years year due to the earth’s precession.)
• Knowing the Wu Pei Chih date, we can compare the stars on it with Starry Night program. We can also establish that near the “compass rose” position shown on the Piri Reis (S.W. Falklands), Canopus is at 90º elevation. The reason the cartographers have taken such inordinate trouble surveying the coast of Patagonia is that they have established the declination and right ascension of Canopus when it is above them.
• Chinese records reveal that the need to ‘fix’ the position of Canopus and the Southern Cross constellation has long preoccupied Chinese astronomers. The Emperor ordered the fleet south to achieve this. (Conference in Nanjing October 2002 emphasised this preoccupation with Canopus.) The Kunming Conference (December 2002) emphasised the Chinese standard operating procedure of sailing directly beneath (90º altitude) selected stars.
• Knowing the position of Canopus, latitude in the southern hemisphere can be determined by cross- referencing Canopus with Polaris in the northern hemisphere.
• These measurements give the Chinese the capacity to determine latitude across the whole world.
Where would they have been likely to do so?
(a) At 52º 40’ S, the declination of Canopus, all ships could keep the star right overhead, all thus surveying from the same base line. Evidence of the Chinese voyage is indeed found all the way across the world at 52º 40’ S, in Patagonia, Kerguelen and Campbell Island (which appears precisely drawn on the Jean Rotz). (Evidence of this method of sailing given by Chinese professors at Kunming Conference, December 2002.)
•At which other latitudes would it have been sensible to survey?
(b) Where Canopus disappears below the horizon at 38º 30’ N. Evidence is found at this latitude around the world.
(c) At 3º 20’ N where Polaris disappeared below the horizon in 1421. Evidence of the Chinese voyage is also found here.
View map: Piri Reis map
