Annex 9 – Evidence of Chinese Fleets visit to Antarctic
1. Maps
- Piri Reis map, 1513, shows South Graham Land and the South Shetland Islands published 400 years before this area was first charted by Europeans, with pictures of guanacos and pumas.
- Diego Hominem’s map showing Antarctica a decade before Magellan set sail.
- Zheng He’s passage charts of Anatarctica – (Discovered in November 2003 by Mr Lam Yee Din of Tsz Wan Shan, Kowloon, Hong Kong). It shows Indian Ocean east of South Africa and Antartctic south of South Africa. He reached deep into the Weddell Sea. A translation will be placed on the website as soon as possible. Points about this map:
(i) It shows Indian Ocean Islands notably Madagascar and Chagos Archipelago and Cocos Islands with Arabic names translated into Chinese.
(ii) On the other hand the French sub Antarctic Islands (St Pauls and Kerguelen) and the Antarctic Islands viz South Orkneys, South Sandwich Islands and the Antarctic Mainland have purely Chinese names not Arabic ones. All of these islands have the wrong longitudes.
2. Chinese Records and Claims
- Chinese claims to have reached South Pole (Professor Wei).
- The mylodon (alive in 1830 – Darwin) shown in Illustrated Record of Strange Countries and on Piri Reis.
- Dictionary Ming Biography states Zheng He’s fleet reached Kerguelen (shown on Wu Pei Chih) but prevented by storms from sailing further south.
3. Accounts of contemporary European Historians and Explorers
- Ludovico de Varthema’s story of Chinese people setting sail for S. Pole by following the Southern Cross.
- “Foreign seamans body” found by first European explorer deep frozen on Deception Island (SW South Shetlands)
Ludovico de Varthema’s story of Chinese people setting sail for S. Pole by following the Southern Cross.
4. Accounts of Local People
Further research needed
5. Linguistics
Further research needed
6. Shipwrecks/ Chinese anchors and fishing gear
- Anchor and wreck found – St Paul’s French Antarctic Islands (Paul, Belinda and Tessa Lewis
- First Spanish to round Cape Horn found wrecked Chinese Junks (Grotius) at 22°S
7. Chinese Porcelain and Ceramics
Further research needed
8. Pre-Columbian Chinese Jade found in the wake of the Chinese Fleet
Further research needed
9. Artefacts, gems, votive offerings, coins and funerary urns
Further research needed
10. Stones: Buildings, Observation Platforms, Carved Markers
- St. Paul’s French Antarctic Islands (39° S 78° E) – carved Chinese stone (as for Dondra Head) and stone barracks (Paul, Belinda & Tessa Lewis)
11. Mining Operations found by the Europeans when they reached the New World
Further research needed
12. Advanced Technologies found by first Europeans on their arrival
Further research needed
13. Plants found indigenous to another continent
- Norfolk Island Pines on Campbell Island
- Green apples – Inaccessible Island, Nightingale Island and Tristao da Cunha – (Wolfdietrich Goettel)
- Wild ginger – St Helena – (Wolfdietrich Goettel)
14. Animals found indigenous to another continent
- Falkland Islands dog ‘The Warrah’ (Charles Darwin).
- Horses on Tierra del Fuego (Sarmiento).
- Rabbits on Tierra del Fuego (Magellan)
- Flightless Teal – Cambell and Auckland Island and Tierra del Fuego
- Flightless Moorhens – Gough Island and Tristao da Cunha – (Wolfdictrich Goettel)
15. Art
Further research needed
16. Chinese customs, games, clothes and legends
Further research needed
17. Armour, metal weapons, cannons and implements found
- Brass cannon found – St Paul’s French Antarctic Islands (Paul, Belinda and Tessa Lewis)
18. Diseases
Further research needed.
19. DNA
- Recent DNA investigation. ‘Lt Kendall’s foreign seaman’s body’ deep frozen on Deception Island – Geographical Journal 1830 pp. 65,66.
- ‘Chinese’ DNA (post Bering Straits landbridge) of the Toba Indian people of Patagonia (Professor Novick and colleagues).
20. Meteorological events and weather
Further research needed
21. Stars and Navigation
Further research needed
View maps: The Piri Reis map, The Cantino world map, The Waldseemüller map
