Annex 11 – Evidence of Chinese Fleets visit to Chile, Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan
1. Maps
· Patagonia is accurately drawn on the Piri Reis Map as can be seen by the distinctive physical features and descriptions of animals unique to S. America
2. Chinese Records and Claims
· Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (1430) showing armadillo (unique to S. America).
· The Complete Herb Book of China (1530) shows herbs unique to South America – Zhong Guo Ben Cao Quan Shu.
3. Accounts of Contempory European Historians and Explorers
· The first Spanish to round the Horn found wrecked Chinese junks (Grotius) at Taroja (220 S.)
4. Accounts of Local People
Further research needed
5. Linguistics
· The name ‘Chile’ or ‘Chi Le’, given before European arrival is a province in northern china and is Chinese for dependent territory.
· The name was in use before the Spanish arrived (Molina).
6. Shipwrecks/ Chinese anchors and fishing gear
Further research needed
7. Chinese Porcelain and Ceramics
· Well known S. American Puma ware is originally a copy of South China Tiger ware traded in Chile – Prof. Gary Tee
· A quantity of Chinese porcelain dating from the 13th century has been found on one
of the Juan Fernandez Islands off Chile. The Tercera newspaper of 21March 2004 reported the find in January by the American treasure hunter Bernard Keiser. They found a hoard of some 10 kilos of Shang dynasty porcelain – Anthony Terry
8. Pre-Columbian Chinese jade found in the wake of the treasure fleet
Further research needed
9. Artefacts, gems, votive offerings, coins and funerary urns
Further research needed
10. Stones: Buildings, Observation Platforms and Carved Markers
· Chinese inscribed stones between Mendoza and La Punta (Lats 330 – 34o S) and (ii) near Diamond River (Ranking).
11. Mining Operations found by the Europeans when they reached the New World
Further research needed
12. Advanced technologies found by the first Europeans on their arrival
· Chilean knowledge of iron metallurgy (Molina ii 22).
13. Plants found indigenous to another continent
· Broadleaf (Grislinia Littoralis) first found in Akaroa, New Zealand – five other members of this botanical family are found in Chile.
14. Animals found indigenous to another continent
· Asiatic chickens found which cannot fly and therefore must have been brought over by ship
· The armadillo (unique to S. America) is featured in China’s Illustrated Record of Strange Countries, 1430
· Naitha cattle to La Plata (Banda oriental breed) – Jesuit history, Memoires sur les Chinois, 1786
· Mylodon (giant sloth weighing about 200kg unique to S.A.) – The Illustrated Record of Strange Countries, 1430, depicts such a creature. GM has photographed a smaller species of the upright sloth in Patagonia and believes the Mylodon may still exist in the remote unexplored forests of Magallanes.
15. Art
· The Mapuche tribes of Chile make totem poles
· A visitor to the Museo Precolumbino in Santiago, Chile, found beside many Olmec, Inca and Maya statues with their typical South American features, one with a definitely Chinese head and headdress. The description was rather vague and assumed it to be from the Olmec period, somewhere between 900 and 1200 AD – Ortwin Ahrens
16. Chinese customs, games, clothes and legends
-Chilean palican (ball game) is the same as Chowgar (Molina 1).
-Chilean chess; Comican (Molina ii 125)
-Custom of covering chicken heads (Molina ii 25) 1726.
-Chilean cure of smallpox with milk similar to Chinese (Molina ii 321).
-Lassos – same as in China (Molina ii 26).
-Legends of giants coming ashore on coast – Garcilaso de la Vega & Pedro de Cieza de Leon
-Quipus – as in China (Molina ii 26), and in Peru, Marquesas and Hawaii.
-Characteristics of Chilean tribes (Molina) e.g.
-The Karaba tribe have Chinese features, skin, hands.
-Names of tribes of Chile (Molina)
– Aruacans – from Arracan (Burma)
– Promancians – from Prome (on borders Arracan).
– Poy-yus from Po Yeon in Cochin China
– Chuotes from Che Li
– Cunches from Cunchi – Szechuan
– Pi-Cunches – Northern cunchis (Pi = North)
– Mappuchinians ( Mapa in Chinese).
17. Armour, metal weapons, cannons and implements found
Further research needed
18. Diseases
Further research needed
19. DNA
· The indigenous people of Valparaiso today have strong Mongolian and East Asian genes.
20. Meteorological Events and Weather
· Humboldt current would have carried ships northwards along the Chilean coast
21. Stars and Navigation
Further research needed
