On 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di"s loyal eunuch admirals.Their orders were "to proceed all the way,to the end of the earth".

The voyage would last for two years and by the time the fleet returned, China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. And so the great ships were left to rot, and the records of their journey destroyed. And with them,the knowledge that the Chinese had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, and Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook.

On 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di"s loyal eunuch admirals.Their orders were "to proceed all the way,to the end of the earth".

The voyage would last for two years and by the time the fleet returned, China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. And so the great ships were left to rot, and the records of their journey destroyed. And with them,the knowledge that the Chinese had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, and Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook.

The result of fifteen years research, 1421 is Gavin Menzies"enthralling account of this remarkable journey, of his discoveries and the persuasiye evidence to support them: ancient maps,precise navigational knowledge, astronomy, surviving accounts of Chinese explorers and later European navigators as well as the traces the fleet left behind.

LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

LIST OF PLATES

CHINESE NOMENCLATURE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Ⅰ Imperial China

 1 THE EMPEROR"S GRAND PLAN

 2 A THUNDERBOLT STRIKES

 3 THE FLEETS SET SAIL

Ⅱ The Griding Stars

 4 ROUNDING THE CAPE

 5 THE NEW WORLD

Ⅲ The Voyage of Hong Bao

 6 VOYAGE TO ANTARCTICA AND AUSTRALIA

Ⅳ The Voyage of Zhou Man

 7 AUSTRALIA

 8 THE BARRIER REEF AND THE SPICE ISLANDS

 9 THE FIRST COLONY IN THE AMERICAS

 10 COLONIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA

Ⅴ The Voyage of Zhou Wen

 11 SATAN"S ISLAND

 12 THE TREASURE FLEET RUNS AGROUND

 13 SETTLEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA

 14 EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE

Ⅵ The Voyage of Yans Qing

 15 SOLVING THE RIDDLE

Ⅶ Portugal Inherits the Crown

 16 WHERE THE EARTH END

 17 COLONIZING THE NEW WORLD

 18 ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

EPILOGUE: THE CHINESE LEGACy

POSTSCRIPT

APPENDICES

 1 CHINESE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD 1421-3: Synopsis of Evidence

 2 THE DETERMINATION OF LONGITUDE

NOTES

INDEX