RE: [Marxism] Chinese seamen were first round the world

["Mark Lause" <MLause@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm no expert in these things, but the evidence is very clear about
Zheng He. (I've also seen this as "Cheng Ho," but--again--I really don't
know which is the more accurate rendition.)  The explorations under the
Ming dynasty were very impressive and an extensive as most of them, if
not all of them.  The difference in the way Chinese and western culture
processed these explorations is probably more significant than who did
what first.

The specifid evidence on Chinese visits to the New World that I've seen
are pretty lame.  The Chinese stone anchors off the California shore
were clearly from much later fishing boats and much of the entire
discussion recalls all the runic evidence of Viking visitations dug up
by Scandinavians in Minnesota.

The real explorers, of course, were those who made Stone Age crossings
of one sort or another.  The use of genetic evidence has already given
us a window into the antiquity and complexity of this migration, and it
promises to unearth a great deal more in the future.

ML





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