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          1421──明成祖永乐十九年

          ·中国人发现美洲大陆，早于哥伦布七十年；

          ·中国人发现澳洲，先于库克船长三百五十年；

          ·中国人解决计算经度的问题，远早于欧洲三个世纪。

          ·中国人到达麦哲伦海峡，比麦哲伦的出生还早一个甲子；

这是一部可能改写世界历史的惊人之作

作者加文·孟席斯(GavlrI Merlzles)花了14年时间研究这段中国船队惊人的传奇之旅。他应用得天独厚的天文导航绘图以及航海专业知识，广泛搜集古地图、东西方断简残篇的证据，用以支持自己的论点，成功地解释了近年所发现的中国船队沿路留下的遗物与碑文，以及中途的沉船，还有水手在各地祭拜妈祖的遗址。

明成祖永乐十九年正月三十日，在总兵太监郑和的带领下，历史上宏伟壮观的船队从中国出发，其中不乏150米长的巨舰。中国船队如同海上仙山，阵容浩大时各种舰船达100余艘，各类人员28000余名。其出航的目的为“宣德化而柔远人”，这次旅行历经两年，并环游地球一周。当他们回航时，盛极一时的明成祖朱棣早已体衰势微，中国也走上锁国道路。巨船任其腐朽，远航的记载也遭到毁弃。从此再也没人知道那段历史的真相。作者通过研究，重新讲述这段惊人的发现之旅。

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 mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas' and unite the world in Confucian harmony. 

Their journey would last for over two years and take them around the globe but by the time they returned home, 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 were 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 the voyage of the Chinese fleet, the remarkable discoveries he made and the persuasive evidence to support them: ancient maps, precise navigational knowledge, astronomy and the surviving accounts of Chinese explorers and the later European navigators as well as the traces the fleet left behind - from sunken junks to the votive offerings left by the Chinese sailors wherever they landed, giving thanks to Shao Lin, goddess of the sea.

Already hailed as a classic, this is the story of an extraordinary journey of discovery that not only radically alters our understanding of world exploration but also rewrites history itself.

加文·孟席斯 Gavin Menzies ，英国海军退伍军官。1937年生于中国，两年后因二战爆发始离开。1953年加入英国海军，1957年在“钻石”号驱逐舰上服役于地中海海域。1959年，在“纽芬兰”号上担任航海指挥官，服役于远东海域。1960年调到“决心”号战略导弹核潜艇，任作战官。1968年担任“鳁鲸”号潜艇艇长，被授予海军中校，执行全球航行访问任务。在服役期间，他曾率舰沿着世界上伟大的航海家哥伦布、迪亚斯、卡布拉尔和达·伽马的航线行遍世界。退伍之后，他曾多次走访中国与亚洲各国，专注于中国明代郑和航海的调查与研究。