1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance Book

The only thing worse than Gavin Menzies' writing is his faulty logic and poor research. "1434" is an example of what happens when someone starts with a fantastic conclusion, come up with a series of unproven events leading to that conclusion, and ignores any contradictory evidence. Mr. Menzie's argument goes as follows:

In 1434, a Chinese Fleet sailed to Italy and met with the pope. (No 15th century accounts exist in Italy or elsewhere in the Mediterranean of a large fleet of Chinese Junks being sighted).

This fleet reached the Mediterranean via a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile. (No such canal existed then).

Chinese Eunuch Admiral Zheng He led the fleet to Italy. (By all reports, he had previously died in Calcutta).

Books and charts left by the fleet inspired renaissance thinkers and explorers including Da Vinci, Columbus, Magellan, etc. (Menzies describes mountains of books and charts, none of which have been found in Italy. Also, who in Renaissance Italy could read Mandarin?)

Admiral Zheng He then traveled to America and died somewhere near Asheville, NC. (Yes, Menzies actually claims this but provides no evidence or an explanation how the Chinese got to North America and traveled 300 miles inland)


Admiral Zheng He did exist and made several voyages across the Indian Ocean but his fleet never made it farther than Africa. His journeys importance do not need to be exaggerated. Chinese culture also undoubtedly influenced Europe before 1434. Marco Polo's journeys occurred 150 years previously and overland trade between China and the Middle East exited centuries before then.

Menzies unsubstantiated book belongs on a shelf next to legends about Atlantis, Crystal Skulls, and pyramid building aliens and shouldn't be taken as historical fact.

For more information, I suggest the below NatGeo article about Admiral Zheng He.