Annex 24 – Evidence of the Chinese Fleets visiting Tiguex – Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico
1. Maps and star charts
· ‘Tiguex’ (name of Navajo) appeared on European maps before Europeans reached these (Cantino 1502, Waldseemueller 1507).
2. Chinese Records and Claims
Further research needed
3. Accounts of contemporary European historians and Explorers
· Antonio Galvão(1555) reports Chinese claims to be ‘lords’ of Mexico.
· Coronado found Chinese people in Tiguex (near Albuquerque).
· Chinese merchants reported in ports of Quatulco and Panuco (Gregorio Garcia).
· Acosta met Chinese.
4. Accounts of Local People
· Hopi traditions, which say, Navajo only arrived one generation before Spanish – Dr. Yates
· Navajo guide told the history of the Navajo tribe and the Monument Valley, N. America. In 1995 or 1996 some tourists accidentally found 2 skeletons uncovered by erosion that were said to be Japanese. They were immediately covered again. Other local guides would not talk about it about incident or did not know anything. They appeared angry that it was known wanted to know who had regaled this information. (Enrico Altmann)
5. Linguistics and languages common to China and New World
· Navajo people understood Chinese last century (John Ting).
· Zuni people understand Japanese (Jim Tanner; Nancy Yaw Davis; Barbara
Vibbert) E.g. the Zuni word for deer is ‘shohita’ which is similar to the Japanese word shika The linguistic parallels between the Zuni and Japanese are quite startling and many more examples can be found. Here are just afew: English = to be inside, Zuni = uchi, Japanese = uchi English = leaf, Zuni = ha, Japanese = ha English = yes, Zuni = hai, Japanese = hai English = to wake up, Zuni = okwi, Japanese = oki (ru)
· The Zuni for Flute mountain is Shohko yalana whereas the Japanese shakuhachi yama means “flute” and “mountain”.
· Matsaki is the name of a Zuni village and it is also a common place name in Japanese which refers to pine trees.
· The Japanese kangi (written symbol) for rice field is found in petroglyphs near Zuni.
· Zuni = bitsu (meaning an important deity) is similar to the Japanese butsu meaning Buddha.
· The traditional male way of wearing hair was similar to
that of the Chinese of the pre-Tang period. The knot used in tying one’s hair was called a ‘chongo’ by the Hopi Indians. ‘Chong toe
fah’ means long hair in Chinese
· The extraordinary similarity in the sounds, cadences and tones of the Mandarin Chinese spoken in Shanghai and the Tiwa language spoken by the Taos tribe in Northern New Mexico. Many Taos own Chows, their features Mongolian, their descriptions redolent of Chinese characters, all simile and poetic phrases – Gillie Green
6. Shipwrecks, Chinese anchors and fishing gear found in the wake of the treasure fleet
· Coronado’s expedition found ships with gilded sterns (Mafeo and Frois
corroborate). Treasure ships had large gilded carvings of an eagle on their
sterns.
· Asiatic shipwrecks on Mexican Pacific coasts (Hugo Grotius)
7. Chinese porcelain and ceramics found in the wake of the treasure fleet
· A guardian statue found in the mid-30’s in a niche in a canyon that was later flooded by Granby Dam in Colorado. The ideograms were said to be 13th century Chinese, the stone indigenous to China
8. Pre-Columbian Chinese jade found in the wake of the treasure fleet
· Chinese jade buried in Nacooche Mound.
9. Artefacts, gems, votive offerings, coins and funerary urns
· Statuettes of Buddha, Grand Canyon; Buddhist ceremonial dishes of solid silver (J Smothers).
· Granby Dam, Colorado – statuette (Thad Daly)
10. Stone buildings, artefacts, canals and aqueducts
· A carved stone which appears to be depicting someone of Oriental lineage. Possibly Ming Dynasty. The carving was known to have existed before the Civil War and is carved in Savanah Sandstone and located about ten miles North of the Arkansas River. It is carved in minute detail just about life size. Last seen in 1984, it is in a fairly remote area and not many people know about it. The facial features and hair style appear to be Oriental. Photographs will hopefully be posted soon on the ‘Gallery’ page of our website.
11. Mining operations found by first Europeans when they reached the New Wolrd
Further evidence needed
12. Advanced technologies found by first Europeans on arrival in New World
Further research needed
13. Plants indigenous to one continent, found on another
· Hibiscus (Rosa sinensis) and Chinese roses found by first Europeans (Dr Tan Koolin).
· Rice
· 26 chromosome cotton
· Maize (Mexican corn) found by first Europeans to reach China.
· Peaches – Prunus persica. The origin of the peach is China, where it has been cultivated since the early days of this ancient culture. The peach is generally believed to have been brought to America via the Spanish conquest. Nancy Yaw Davis, in her book “The Zuni Enigma”, however contends that the Spanish invaders, on coming into contact with the Zuni tribe of the Southwest found that peaches had been long cultivated there. This hypothesis is supported by archaeological excavations discovering peach pits that were believed to predate the arrival of the Europeans to America. The Zuni word for peach is mo:chiqa (“mo” = round object, “chiqa” = sweet). This cannot be seen to correspond with the Spanish word for peach “duranzo” or “melocotone” but it does with the Japanese word for peach “momo”.
14. Animals indigenous to one continent, found on another
· Pictures of horses (foreign to Americas prior to Columbus) and foreign ships
carved by Indian peoples (more than 100) dated pre-Columbus.
· Chinese ship’s dogs (Acosta).
· Chinese chickens (Melanotic silkie, frizzle fowl) found by Coronado (Topira)
·An author agrees that the Chinese horse had to have come to the Americas before the Spanish horse. The Appaloosa patterns may have got into the Western mustang partly by way of spotted horses brought by Chinese traders touching the West Coast. Frances Haines’ classic book on the Appaloosa talks about this, and covers the subject of spotted horses in Chinese ancient art – Patricia Nell Warren
15. Distinctive artwork carried from continent to continent
· The Piasa Bird – a pictograph found by Europeans during an exploration of middle Mississippi River region in 1673: “While Skirting some rocks,” the priest wrote, “which by Their height and length inspired awe, We saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made Us afraid, and upon Which the boldest savages dare not Long rest their eyes. They are as large As a calf; they have Horns on their heads Like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard Like a tiger’s, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body Covered with scales, and so Long A tail that it winds all around the Body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a Fish’s tail. Green, red, and black are the three Colours composing the Picture. Moreover, these 2 monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any savage is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to reach that place Conveniently to paint them….” This description of the image matches, point by point, the traditional form and colouration of Imperial Chinese dragons.
Piasa – researchers have had an opportunity to examine a rare original 1854 Henry Lewis lithograph of the Piasa, published in Dusseldorf. It has some intriguing details that had not been seen in the small copy previously available to them:
1.It is apparent that a bluff face of at least 5000sq. ft. in area had been quarried and worked smooth before the Piasa was painted. Also, there are distinct quarrying marks to the left of the Piasa, in an unusual pattern.
2. The Indians in the foreground are shooting at the Piasa. They feared it and sought to obliterate it. It could not have been theirs!
3. The face on the right-hand creature is crudely added, and could not have been part of the original work – Mark and Laurie Nickless
16. Customs and games exported from China to New World
· The Japanese ceremony known as “Namahage” and the Zuni ceremony called “Uwanaga” are both intended to scare children to behave well. Masked monsters appear who threaten to kill and eat the bad children. Zuni and Japanese share a common ceremony devised to scare bad behaved children into obeying their parents. Masked monsters, considered to be from the land of the dead, appear carrying knives and other weapons and threaten to kill and then eat the bad children. The masks of both ceremonies have horns and large bulging eyes with long hair and a beard. In both ceremonies the monster has assistants who help frighten the children and collect the gifts of the parents to supplicate the monster. In Japan and the Zuni area the masked monsters traditionally appear after the New Year’s ceremony, in mid January. Both ceremonies are associated with purification and with protecting fruit trees, especially peach trees.
· Hopi women once wore their hair, and wear it to this day, for ceremonies, like the Chinese wore it in the Tang period, around 700 AD or earlier. The Hopi have a tradition that they were told by their ancestors not to change their hair style, because future generations would be able to identify them by their hair (Al Cornett)
· It seems that the Plains Indians adopted the compact, composite, double-recumbent bow that was popular among the Mongolian cavalry. It was made by binding together pieces of horn – thus enabling Indians to manufacture bows in regions where suitable wood was unavailable.
· The main religious colours associated with the Navajo and Zuni are Black, White, Red and Yellow. The same colours used by the Chinese. (Richard Douglas)
17. Armour, metal weapons and metal implements found in the New World
Further research needed
18. Trans-oceanic spread of diseases from one continent to another
· “Zuni disease”. This is a kidney disease called mesangiopathic glomerulonephritis which is also very common in Japan.
19. DNA and physiological comparisons
· The Navajo and Zuni tribes have ‘Chinese’ DNA (post-glaciation crossings) (Professor Novick & colleagues)
· The Zuni tribe can be linked to the Japanese on a biological basis by looking at their teeth. The prevalence of an extra cusp on the upper first molar, called the Carabelli, shows this. The percentage of Native Americans likely to have such a cusp is 60.2%, the Pima Indians, who live near the Zuni 53.3%, while the Zuni drop to a 36% likelihood which relates to the Japanese at 31-5%.
· A 1997 study published by the US National Academy of Sciences appears to support the fact that the New World’s first migrants came from Asia. Researchers studied Native Americans from the Navajo, Chamorro and Flathead tribes (Montana) and determined that all three groups possess a unique type of retrovirus gene JCV found only in China and Japan.
· Pima – “American mitochrondrial DNAs have rare Asian mutations at high frequencies suggesting they derived from four primary maternal lineages” –Am. J. Hum. Genet. 1990 Mar 46 (3), Schurr et al (see Bibliography).
· Many visitors to website www.gavinmenzies.net have commented on the striking physical similarities between Navajo and Chinese.
· To read an in depth comparison of Chinese and Navajo peoples, by Margaret Cattey, please click here.
20. Meteorological events and weather
Further research needed
21. Stars and navigation
Further research needed
View maps: The Cantino world map, The Waldseemüller map
