|
|
Subject: Re: Zheng He steered by the stars?
From: Peter Fogg (ffive@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Nov 26 2002 - 17:37:59 EST
"Trevor J. Kenchington" wrote:
> the recent claim that Zheng He and his men discovered
> just about everywhere on the planet that remained to be discovered in
> his day is not so much impossible as simply without foundation in the
> historical record. I don't claim any expertise in Chinese nautical
> history but some who do have already debunked Menzies' new book and I
> think it can be dismissed as nothing more than a way to make money off a
> gullible book-buying public.
>
All this skepticism may be well founded. But consider the case of Heinrich
Schliemann. A successful businessman, charlatan and fraud extaordinaire. Yet he
excavated Troy, despite the accepted wisdom being that Troy was just a myth
invented by Homer.
In any case, my interest is in what navigational knowledge and tools Zheng He
may have had at his disposal and remain hopeful that someone with access to the
relevant texts may be able to shed light on this.
|