1421: The Year China Discovered America
Gavin Menzies
"I read the book 1421 by Gavin Menzies because I've always been a fan of history, and the topic was 1421, the year the Chinese discovered America. So the title alone is what captured my attention to read it.
Primarily, 1421 is about the circumnavigation of the globe by the Chinese, and roughly 1421 is the year that the fleet left China; and it was at the time the world's biggest fleet. They discovered places like Antarctica, North America, South America, the Caribbean, Bahaman Islands, parts of Greenland and parts of Africa that hadn't been explored, as well as they left colonies in a lot of those places.
The author is a retired ex-British naval officer who sailed a lot of these seas that the Chinese - ancient Chinese explored or sailed. What I liked best about the book was all the evidence that he brings forth to support his argument that the Europeans weren't the first to explore North America and circumnavigate the globe. What I didn't like is that it's almost like reading a history textbook from school. It's very hard to get through; it's a very tough read. I would probably recommend this to anybody who has an interest in ancient history, as well as people who are interested in the beginnings of North America as far as when it was discovered. I would give this book about four stars out of five."
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