In fourteen hundred ninety-two
   Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Well, sure he did…and what of it? I can be a bit of a contrarian from time to time. That’s why I respect and admire skeptical, independent historian Gunnar Thompson, who’s gathered some pretty compelling evidence disputing the history we all grew up with. Namely, the assertion that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.

Never mind the fact that the continent had already been discovered by the people living there; that’s an argument for another day. Let me clarify: Thompson suggests that Columbus was not the first non-American to visit America and bring news of his voyage home. Even more surprising for those of us brought up with the conventional “New World” orthodoxy, Europeans may not have been the first to accomplish this at all!

Instead, Thompson suggest that the Chinese were first. Specifically, a Chinese explorer named Zheng He. Between 1405 and 1433, Admiral Zheng He is known to have explored coastal areas of southest Asia, India, the Arabian Sea, and eastern Africa at least as far south as modern-day Kenya. By any measure, he was one of the world’s great explorers.

It’s not quite so well-established, however, that Zheng He (or vessels under his command) also visited the coasts of North and South America. Thompson makes a good case, and he’s not alone. Retired Royal Navy submarine commander Gavin Menzies has published a book entitled 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, in which he asserts that portions of Zheng’s fleet explored virtually the entire globe, including West Africa, North and South America, Greenland, Antarctica and Australia. Wow!

Lots of folks disagree, too. Just Google up “debunk Gunnar Thompson” or “debunk Gavin Menzies” to learn why you should disregard these fellows.

I’m not going to draw any conclusions here; I’m just an interested bystander. However, if Thompson and Menzies are correct, it wouldn’t be the first time “real” historians were upstaged by amateur ones with truth on their side. Even if they have overreached, though, I think anything that gets us learning more about overlooked explorer Zheng He is a good thing!