'Menzies has come up with something entirely new it is a startling claim.'

--Guardian

'Brilliantly conceived and controversial.'

--The Times

In 1434 a sophisticated Chinese delegation visited Italy. After that date the authority of Aristotle and Ptolemy was overturned, and Chinese knowledge ignited the work of geniuses such as da Vinci, Copernicus and Galileo.

China's influence had sparked the Renaissance. The course of Western civilization was changed forever.

Following on from the bestselling 1421, Gavin Menzies' controversial new book 1434 charts the final voyage of the Imperial Chinese fleet. His astonishing discoveries about China's legacy in Europe brilliantly rewrite the history of our modern world.

INTRODUCTION

Ⅰ Setting the Scene

1 A LAST VOYAGE

2 THE EMPEROR'S AMBASSADOR

3 THE FLEETS ARE PREPARED FOR THE VOYAGE TO THE BARBARIANS

4 ZHENO HE'S NAVIGATORS' CALCULATION OF LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

5 VOYAGE TO THE RED SEA

6 CAIRO AND THE RED SEA-NILE CANAL

Ⅱ China Ignites the Renaissance

7 TO THE VENICE OF NICCOL0 DA CONTI

8 PAOLO TOSCANELLI'S FLORENCE

9 TOSCANELLI MEETS THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR

  10 COLUMBUS'S AND MAGELLAN'S WORLD MAPS

  11 THE WORLD MAPS OF JOHANNES SCHONER, MARTIN WALDSEEMULLER, AND ADMIRAL ZHENG HE

  12 TOSCANELLI'S NEW ASTRONOMy

  13 THE FLORENTINE MATHEMATICIANS: TOSCANELLI, ALBERTI, NICHOLAS OF CUSA, AND REGIOMONTANUS

  14 LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI AND LEONARDO DA VINCI

  15 LEONARDO DA VINCI AND CHINESE INVENTIONS

  16 LEONARDO,DI GIORGIO, TACCOLA, AND ALBERTI

  17 SILK AND RICE

  18 GRAND CANALS: CHINA AND LOMBARDy

  19 FIREARMS AND STEEL

  20 PRINTING

  21 CHINA'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE RENAISSANCE

Ⅲ China's Legacy

  22 TRAGEDy ON THE HIGH SEAS: ZHENG HE'S FLEET DESTROYED By A TSUNAMI

  23 THE CONQUISTADORES' INHERITANCE: OUR LADY OF VICTORY

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Permissions

Photograph Credits

Index