Wrecked junks of Zheng He’s fleets
Thanks to information from readers and from visitors to the website, we now know of more than 100 possible wrecked junks of which 16 have been positively identified as Chinese – from Ming porcelain, celadon, Zhu Di’s coins and the like.
By the time the paperback is published on October 2nd, we hope to have devised a system which will speed up identification and make it easier to decide which wrecks to attempt to salvage.
We should welcome any ideas. Our current programme, after receipt of information which appears to show a junk of Zheng He’s fleets, is to arrange –
(I) Satellite imagery – Landsat and Quickbird (70% of the wrecks are well inland not under the sea.)
(II) Magnetic anomaly survey
(III) Ground penetrating radar survey
(IV) Sonics
(V) Test boring
To share any information on new or improved methods of asserting analysis please click here
Descendents of Zheng He’s Fleet – DNA testing
By the time the paperback is published on 2nd October, we hope to have DNA results of 43 people whom we believe are descendents of Zheng He’s sailors. To date we have 30, with 13 to go. These 13 are:
North America
Haida of Queen Charlotte Islands
Concows of Chico, California
Gallinomero of Healdsburg, California
Ming Ho of W. Virginia
Melungeons of N. Carolina
Wydants of Rhode Island
Australia
Gunditjmara of Warrnambool
Nyungah speakers of South-West
Aborigines of Darwin
Aborigines of Fraser Island
New Zealand
Waitaha of South Island
South Africa
Pate Islanders
Namaquas – “Chinese Hottentots”
If any one knows of existing tests already carried out on any of these people we should be most grateful to learn of them. To relay information to the 1421 team please click here
Zheng He’s Fleets in Europe?
Exciting news! It has recently come to our attention that the great fleets of the early fifteenth century visited Europe. Rumours abound of a Chinese presence in Ireland and Spain have come in via the website contact form since publication of 1421 and the launch of the website. This information has been corroborated by the translation of several Chinese historical works that refer to Chinese contact with Spain. One book describes Chinese trade with the Barbarians not least with ‘Mulanpi’, the Al Murabitum kingdom of Spain. The second book in the ‘Foreign Countries’ chapter says
” … Year 6 (1408) Zheng He went to Hormuz (Persian Gulf) and other foreign countries, returned home in year 8 (1410). The countries visited but which did not return tribute are listed as an appendix…” This appendix lists “Mayidong, Kalimanjan, Misr (Cairo) , Mulanpi, Kilin, Sunha…”
There are also vivid descriptions of the Chinese junks leaving Damietta (Nile Delta) and setting sail west across the Mediterranean. In the chapter headed “Various Kingdoms in the Sea” they describe Sicily, and Mount Etna erupting.
Furthermore we have received information stating uncanny linguistic affinities between the groups that encompass the Basque language, Chinese, Tibetan, and the Na-Dene languages, a group of Native American languages including Navajo. (As you may already know, we have reports of Navajo elders understanding Chinese up until fairly recently.)
If any one knows of existing tests already carried out on any of these people we should be most grateful to learn of them. To relay information to the 1421 team please click here
Flora and Fauna
One of the more intriguing lines of evidence to come out of our investigation into the great voyages of Admiral Zheng He is that concerning the transportation of plants and animals from one nation to another. Environmental anomalies have been found all over the world, from the bananas and rice plantations seen along the banks of the Amazon by Orellana, to incidences of pre-Columbian horses, flightless ducks and Asiatic pigs the length and breadth of the world. Our ears are open to any new suggestions about transplantation processes, genetic testing already carried out on the flora and fauna mentioned on this website, and any other items that you find of interest in this field.
Please click here to contribute to this subject.
