Mr Lam Yee Din – A Third Research on the Discovery of America by Zheng He’s fleet
In my article “A Second Rearch on the Discovery of America by Zheng He’s fleet”, I raised further proofs and arguments in support of the British scholar, Mr Menzies.
Latterly, I have found fresh evidence and materials to reinforce my argument, which is divided into two parts as follows:
I. A Third Research on the Voyage of Zheng He’s fleet across the Cape of Good Hopes and a Second Research on Zheng He’s Discovery of Australia.
II. A Third Research on Zheng He’s Discovery of the New Continent and Circumnavigation.
I. A Third Research on the Voyage of Zheng He’s fleet across the Cape of Good Hopes and a Second Research on Zheng He’s Discovery of Australia.
I have argued once again that the country of Mulanpi reached by Zheng He is where Namibia is now, based on the fact recorded in Allograph from South of Nanling Mountains that owing to lack of favourable wind, it took the Mulan ship years to get the route to the country of Mulanpi. I suppose it means that the wind would only occur if the ship sailed along the Guinea Bay against the currents. Another proof is that as per the historical maps of Southern Africa in the 5th century included in PHILIPS ATLAS OF WORLD HISTORY, the toponym of “Mirabib” as included in The Spread of Bantus Speakers, should be equivalent to Mulanpi.
I argued further about the places reached by Zhou Laoren. In the chapter of Southwest Barbarians of the book Gazetteer of Barbarians edited by Shen Maoshang in the Ming Dynasty, there were accounts made by a member of the entourage to Zheng He, Zhou Laoren (or Old Man Zhou), on the countries he had reached. The possibility is that these countries are all located in West Africa. I also pointed out that a country mentioned as Tefanli in the Gazetteer might be Guinea in West Africa, and could support the voyage of Zheng He’s fleet across Cape of Good Hopes up to Namibia (Mulanpi) as recorded in History of Foreign Countries in Ming History. Since Guinea is geographically very close to Cape Verde, it also supports Mr Menzies’ argument that Zheng He’s fleet reached Cape Verde,
Identification of Countries Reached by Zhou Laoren
I would like to raise further evidence to argue that the countries mentioned by Zhou Laoren reached by Zheng He’s fleet, as recorded in Gazetteer of Barbarians, are located in West Africa.
Countries mentioned by Zhou Laoren are as follows:
Xuwendala, Teboli, Mantuolang, Sujidan, Mahesili, Qielina, Manali, Maha, Fangbai, and Jigela.
Though description of these countries are somehow simplistic and focused on natural resource or economic productions instead of geographic location, most of these countries are also included in An Introduction to Insular Countries by Wang Dayuan in the Yuan Dynasty, while Sujidan is otherwise recorded in History of Barbarian Countries. The only exception is Maha and Jigela, which are recorded in neither of the books. Based on the description in An Introduction to Insular Countries, I would say that at least some of the countries are West African countries.
The description of each of the countries mentioned in History of Barbarian Countries and An Introduction to Insular Countries are as follows:
Location of Sujidan, as mentioned in History of Barbarian Countries:
“Sujidan is a subsidiary country of Zhupo. It adjoins Xintuo on the west and Daban on the east. There is a high and steep mount called Baolao’an which people could see before they reach Sujidan. There are five peaks on the top of the mount, which will be enclosed by clouds occasionally.”
Zhupo is another name for Java. Therefore, Sujidan, as we can infer, is located somewhere close to Java. The highest mount of Indonesia is Mount Jaya in the west part of the island of New Guinea. It is also the peak of South East Asia, standing with its height of 5030m and steepness way above other mountains. There are several glacier-capped peaks on the top of Mount Jaya. Mount Jaya fills in the description of the mount mentioned in History of Barbarian Countries, and accordingly, Sujidan should be west of the island of New Guinea. This assertion is far beyond the belief of contemporary scholars that the eastern limit Zheng He’s fleet reached is Java and its accessory islands such as East Timor. However, the west part of the island of New Guinea is to the northeast of East Timor.
Xuwendala, in An Introduction to Insular Countries, was transcribed into slightly different Chinese characters but with the same pronunciation. Location of this country was briefly indicated as “surrounded by high mountains, it overlooks the sea.” It also said that the country grew aubergine trees as high as 1 zhangs (around 3 metres), and aubergines as heavy as more than ten jins (one jin is slightly less than 1 pound) could be picked with the help of ladders. The two Xuwendalas should be the same one. Some researchers believe that Xumendala, which has a very similar pronunciation to Sumatra, is actually located in the north of Sumatra. In some historical documents, such as Volume 51 of Collection of Books, Sumatra was identified as ancient Xumendana, and Xuwendana was equated with Xuwendala.
The country of Fangbai was simply mentioned in An Introduction to Insular Countries as “among the rocks of a gorge, accessed by viaducts”. Based on later explorations, it’s identified to be at Bombay.
We can learn from the case of Fangbai that the description of location in An Introduction to Insular Countries was not always thorough and detailed. Followers have to rely on presumption to identify the exact location of the countries included in the book. Mistakes are inevitable; a noticeable one is the exclusion of African countries in their consideration. According to my exploration, the countries that Zhou Laoren reached, namely Teboli, Mantuoluo, Mahesili, Qielina, and Manali, should all be African countries. My analysis is elaborated in greater details as follows:
Qielina is recorded in An Introduction to Insular Countries as Jialina, but in the description of agricultural products, the sheep with a weight of 200 jin, and could regenerate their tails with the help of a herb, was also mentioned. From this point, we can know Jialina did mean Qielina.
In An Introduction to Insular Countries, it’s written that “The country is close to the tool mountains, the land is sterile, and agricultural production is low. In Yapoxia, a place in the kingdom, there are deep caves.”
The tool mountains means the mountains made from tools, which are, actually, the pyramid. Jialina stands for Cairo, capital of Egypt. The pronunciation of Jialina is a close representation of Cairo, and Cairo is not far away from the pyramids.
Moreover, Cairo is situated in a land adjacent to the far end of the Red Sea. And south of Cairo lies the Valley of Kings as well as a great number of caves, which fit the description of “deep caves”. Some toponyms in Egypt, such as Al-Bahri, bear similar pronunciations to “Yapoxia”, and may be connected with “Yapoxia, a place in the kingdom”.
The multitude of wells in the desert of Egypt fits the description of “boil the well water to obtain salt”. Just as described in the book, the climate of Egypt is “rather hot”. To assert that Jialina is Cairo of Egypt is beyond the view of contemporary researcher inferred with the help of “Zheng He‘s Chart”, which holds that the western limit in the voyage of Zheng He’s fleet is Malindi in East Africa. However, the end of the Red Sea is still west of Malindi.
It indicates that Zheng He’s fleet was trying to explore west towards the end of the Red Sea, which is quite possible. In fact, Zheng He’s fleet had sailed into the Red Sea, and the end of the Red Sea was not distant from the coastal countries reached by the fleet at all.
The country of Mahesili, as indicated in An Introduction to Insular Countries, is “8000lis away from Dashi, and near the country of Jingbannu. There is a river that is navigable up to 200lis from the sea. (Then) there is a rugged rocky road, which becomes as flat as a mat on the floor after 300lis from the governmental quarter.”
One li is about half a kilometre. Therefore 8000lis are about 4000km. The capital of Dashi is now Baghdad of Iraq. Four thousand kilometres south of Baghdad is the northern part of Mombasa, where there is a river named Galana. Two hundred lis, or 100km upstream is Luggard’s Fall and the edge of the ridge, which is featured by its rugged and rocky surface. The river is no more navigable and the journey will be continued on the road. 300lis, or 50km further, it stands Kilimanjaro, the paramount of Africa. North of the mount is Amboseli National Park, “as flat as a mat on the floor”.
There is no Chinese character to represent the pronunciation of “Amb”, and “Ma” is one that is pronounced in a similar way. If “Amboseli” is really pronounced Amb-o-se-li, it should be Mahesili.
Many scholiasts of An Introduction to Insular Countries claimed that 8000lis is the mistaken version of 800lis, which I believe is false. My belief that Wang Dayuan, author of An Introduction to Insular Countries, estimated the 8000lis distance between Mahesili and Dashi by a calculation based on the latitude. Amboseli is slightly south of the equator, while Baghdad is at latitude 34 north. Wang Dayuan could know the distance between the latitudes by referring to the angle of the North Star. Though the North Star is not observable in Amboseli since it’s south of the equator, Wang Dayuan should have known the closeness of Amboseli to the equator. Similarly, though Baghdad is not at the same longitude with Amboseli, the difference is minimal. Wang Dayuan knew that he was travelling southwards from Dashi.
The Masai people, aboriginal of Amboseli, have a custom today among the female of wearing various kinds of bracelets, sometimes copper bells, on their wrists. This custom may be related to the description of the local people as “have eyes as big as copper bells” in the book of An Introduction to Insular Countries. It’s by and large dry in Kenya, and has two rainy seasons annually. Compared with the coastal areas, Amboseli has less rainfall. The longer rainy season takes place from April to May, while the short one from November to December. Between the two rainy seasons, there is no rain in most of the occasions. However, dew could be formed when the vapour in the air condenses into water when the temperature drops in the night or early in the morning. Though close to the equator, Amboseli is located on the windward slope of a relatively high mountain, which could allow the vapour brought by wind to condense into dew. As logged in An Introduction to Insular Countries, August and September (calculated by traditional Chinese calendar, equivocal to September and October in Gregorian calendar) are the months that recorded the lowest temperature. Having a rather constant temperature through the year though, the transient chill in September and October could still condense vapour in the air into dew, which is closely related to the description of “the climate is regular” and “dew appears in August and September every year”.
Another possibility is that Mahesili bears relations with Malin, the shortened name of Mahdili verified by Shen Fuwei in early 1980s, since the pronunciation of Mahesili is similar to Mahdili. However, Malin is further than Amboseli, which is 9000lis (or 45km) from Baghdad, and has a different climate and more rainfall that will make the collection of dew water for survival unnecessary. Based on the assumption that “8000lis” should be rectified as “800lis”, some contemporary scholars allege that Mahesili is Mosul of North Iraq. But Mosul is too far from the coast and the practice of “boiling seawater for salt, and brew yam leafs for wine” as written in An Introduction to Insular Countries simply could not exist.
Therefore, Mahesili can only be Amboseli in Kenya.
Mantuolang, according to An Introduction to Insular Countries, “borders Boning in northeast. The land is sterile, but suitable for wheat.” Boning means the kingdom of Benin, which occupied a domain in the northeast part of Cameroon along the Guinea Bay in West Africa. Mantuolang, as a result, should be Cameroon. The sterility of land may be related to the soil formed by lava erupted from Mount Cameroon Volcano. Though very close to the equator, the climate is cooled down by the high elevation, which has justified the description that “the climate is slightly hot”. The agricultural products in West Africa such as watermelon and pomegranate also fit the description of Mantuolang. Thus Mantuolang should be Cameroon.
Malina has all the possibility to be Bioko Island of Guinea Equator, which is a mountainous island situated in the southeast of Guinea Bay with an image that resembles a double hump camel.
It’s logged in An Introduction to Insular Countries that “southeast of Jiemili, on the solitary island at the wall-like edge, there is a rock that grows tens of thousands of nanmu trees on it. The island has a lot of lakes and rivers. There are molluscs standing like a peak.” The geographic location of Jiemili resembles that of Bioko Island.
The wall-like edge refers to an edge of a mountain that resembles the exterior corner of a wall. The place nearby with a similar geographic feature is Mount Cameroon at the corner of Guinea Bay. With a tropical rain forest climate, and increased rainfalls in the rainy seasons, Bioko Island has well-distributed lakes and rivers. At the estuaries of the rivers, fresh and salt water mix to form special ecological environments that are suitable for the growth of mangrove and living of oysters or molluscs. Wading birds like cranes will flock on the beach.
Elmina, which is situated by Guinea Bay, has a pronunciation similar to Jiemili. Though Elmina is a Portuguese name that means ‘the mine’, given for the coasts abundant in gold, no other place shown on world atlas has a ‘solitary island at the wall-like edge’ to its southeast, which has a lot of lakes and rivers.
Though the record of Mantuolang, Manali in An Introduction to Insular Countries is not adequate, and whether Manali is in West Africa is somewhat controversial, the description of Teboli is relatively detailed and obviously points to Guinea in West Africa.
The following description of Teboli is found in An Introduction to Insular Countries:
“The country is at the southwest corner, called Xiaoshi. The governmental quarter is deeply located behind a cliff and safely guarded by it; at the back is a cave, around which the land is densely populated. The soil is waterlogged and the field fertile. There is a stream running across the country, which has a floodgate before it ends in the sea. The floodgate will be lifted in spring or in case of drought to irrigate the field, and closed in the rainy season. People are free from the danger of floods and droughts, and the rulers are enjoying sustainable harvest. As a result, it’s called a paradise. The climate is regular. A pristine custom is maintained, and people, either men or women, bind their hair like Chinese kids and wear black turbans. (People) boil seawater for salt, brew leaves for wine, roast lamb for feast. Yellow wax is a natural resource here, and sheep are as tall as 4 chis (1chi ≈ 1 foot). Pineapples are as big as a keg, melons has a perimeter of 3-4 chis. Popular goods include linen, silk of various colours, brocade, copper cauldron, red waxed cloth and so on.”
“The southwest corner” means the southwest corner of Africa, which is no other than Guinea. Unaware of America in the Yuan Dynasty, the furthest end of the world known by the Chinese was West Africa. Thus ‘the southwest corner’ can only mean the southwest of Africa. Though there is no further explanation of ‘the southwest corner’ in An Introduction to Insular Countries, the description of Teboli is fully identical to the geographic features of Guinea.
The following paragraphs are details of the geographic features of Guinea:
In the western part of Guinea there is a region called Lower Guinea that is located at the corner of Southwest Africa. Under the influence of wind from the Atlantic Ocean, it has a typical tropical rainforest climate, with a dry season from November to April, and a rainy season of torrential rains from May to October. The climate is very suitable for the growth of banana, pineapple, rice and other tropical crops, and makes agriculture a relatively easy process. No efforts are required for the farmer after sowing the field.
East of Lower Guinea is Fouta-Djallon Plateau. West of the plateau are steep cliffs and narrow gorges which reflects the description of “the governmental quarter is deeply located behind a cliff and safely guarded by it”. In Dubrica there is a natural wonder called Elephant Trunk Hill, probably featured with its trunk-like channels or tunnels, which may be the “cave” at the back, as included in the book. The eastern flank of the plateau is featured by its Mesozoic Era stratum, with the surface rolling down slightly from the terrace towards a vast plain, which is a place “densely populated”. Being the source of three of the greatest rivers in Africa, Niger River, Senegal River and Gambia River, Fouta-Djallon is abundant in water resource, and titled “water tower of West Africa”. All these rivers end in the sea. Along the Nigerian section of Niger River, Nigeria has constructed the Kainji Dam. In a similar way, Senegal, Mali and Mauritania have all constructed dams on Senegal River, to block the tide from flowing in, and reserve fresh water. Floodgates might have been constructed at the estuaries early on for irrigational purposes and reservation of freshwater. The description of “floodgate before it ends in the sea” and people “free from the danger of floods and droughts” is filled by the features of this area.
Guinea is an Islamic country with 85% percent of the population Muslims. Roast lamb is a traditional food of Guinea, which is exactly the same with the details in the book. Based on the above evidence, we can say Teboli is Guinea.
Some contemporary scholars believe based on their evidence that Teboli is located in the western part of the southern tip of India. However, the shape of India is an inverse triangle that has only a northwest tip instead of a southwest tip. Other details are also contradictory to the description in the book, e.g. people in southwest India are non-Muslims and have neither tradition of feasting on roast lamb nor rearing sheep. There are mountains in southwest India, but not the type shaped like an Elephant trunk. Nor are the steep cliffs, floodgates and reservoirs. Other possible places such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are no more to the southwest of China. Excluding the abovementioned places, we can say Teboli is Guinea.
Based on the personal experience of Wang Dayuan composed on his own, An Introduction to Insular Countries is highly credible. Wang Dayuan sailed abroad twice with merchant or passenger ships. The first voyage was between 1330 and 1334 (summer or autumn), mainly within the Indian Ocean. His second voyage started in 1337 from Quanzhou and ended in summer of 1339, and covered the archipelago of the South Ocean (Nan Yang). The two voyages took around 8 years and the first one alone took as long as five years. Sufficiency of time would allow Wang Dayuan to travel as far as the coast of West Africa.
Asili, another country mentioned in An Introduction to Insular Countries, is “part of Daguoli at the utmost southwest end”. The utmost southwest end obviously refers to the west end of Africa, or Senegal, which is to the southwest of China. Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has a similar pronunciation to Daguoli and is the utmost west end of Senegal protruding into the Atlantic Ocean. Guinea borders Senegal in the southeast. It’s very credible that Wang Dayuan travelled Guinea, and logged it as Teboli. In fact there are cities in Guinea pronounced likewise, such as Dabola, and Dubreka.
Therefore, the point of view that Zheng He’s fleet sailed beyond the Cape of Hopes has been verified by the accounts of Zhou Laoren in Gazetteer of Barbarians, and the description of geographic locations in An Introduction to Insular Countries of the places travelled by Zhou Laoren. The personal experience of Zhou Laoren who crewed Zheng He’s fleet has provided credibility of the account in History of Foreign Countries in the Ming History that Zheng He’s fleet reached Mulanpi, which received the imperial message of China but didn’t pay the tribute in return.
The Ancient Charts prove that Zheng He’s fleet sailed beyond the Cape of Hopes, and discovered Australia and Antarctic.
In Collection of Books, a bibliography edited by Zhang Huang in 1613, some maps of maritime countries are included in Volume 51, among which a map of the southern part of Africa is attached after Map of Southwest Maritime Countries. The main page of Map of Southeast Maritime Countries has a headnote that reads:
“Inside the boundary every square equals to 400lis; outside the boundary, the sea cannot be measured due to the inconstant wind speed.”
This note indicates that the maps were not drawn from imagination, but produced after personal navigation and according to the direction and distance of real-life navigation. “Inside the boundary” may refer to the north that indicated in the map, which actually are China and Korea. For this part, the scale of 400lis per square applies. However, the squares are not printed on the page, probably lost in transcription owing to neglect. The area outside the boundary cannot be measured in a homogeneous scale because of the inconstant wind speed. To include the toponyms and information in the map, proportion of the distance between the places is downplayed. Some places, for example, Country of Hairy People of northeast Japan is placed beside Greater Liu Qiu (Ryukyu). However, in the section of Map of Japan of Volume 50, Collection of Books, the Country of Hairy People is described as to the northeast of Honshu Island, and should actually be Hokkaido. Thus the Map of Southeast Maritime Countries can be regarded as one of the draft world maps updated by more accurate maps that emerged later on but did not survive history.
Guanyu Island appears in Map of Southeast Maritime Countries, and appears again repeatedly in Zheng He’s Chart near Pengjiashan, Ma’anshan (Saddle Hill), and Bieluoli. I believe that Guanyu Island was the base of provision and maintenance for the fleet.
A Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China is also included in Collection of Books, which is followed by a page enumerating country names that are recorded in History of Foreign Countries in Ming History, such as Malin, Awa, etc. These countries all paid tribute to Emperor Yongle, but nothing more than the country names (e.g. Bakeyi, Lumi, Qilani, Pengjiana, etc) were recorded in the official documents. The Country of Sunset, according to the chapter of western frontier in the book of Collection of Secretarial Translation of the Ming Government, also paid tribute to Emperor Yongle. The charting of the maps of maritime countries, therefore, should be contemporary with Zheng He’s navigation.
The “Zheng He’s Chart” attached in Encyclopaedia of War and Armament edited by Mao Yuanyi in 1624 was preceded by Collection of Books by more than 10 years. “Zheng He’s Chart” was believed to be produced contemporaneously with Zheng He’s navigation. Published prior to Encyclopaedia of War and Armament, the maps in Collection of Books, namely Map of Southeast Maritime Countries, Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China, and Map of Southwest Maritime Countries should also be charted in the era of Zheng He’s navigation.
The page that follows Map of Southwest Maritime Countries includes part of Africa south of the equator. It indicates that Zheng He’s fleet navigated beyond the Cape of Good Hopes and the direction and distance were all collected from the real-life navigation, which gave birth to the knowledge of the shape of Southern Africa.
The maps of maritime countries are indicators of the understanding of the outside world by the Ming Chinese. Map of Southeast Maritime Countries focuses on the area southeast of China; the main page of Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China concentrates on countries to the southeast of China in the northern hemisphere; the second page is on the countries to the southwest of China in the northern hemisphere, such as Zuofaer and Tianfang, which are all in the Arabic Peninsula. Map of Southwest Maritime Countries, however, is charted for countries to the southwest of China, but in the southern hemisphere.
Some toponyms appear repeatedly in the maps, indicating that these names are on the border of one map with another. For example, Mabaer, Heiba’a, and Qiqing are included both in Map of Southeast Maritime Countries and Map of Southwest Maritime Countries. It indicates that these three places are to the south of the equator where the southeast sea and southwest sea join together. Sanfuozhai (Three Buddha Shrines), Manlajia, Java appear both in Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China and Map of Southwest Maritime Countries, which means these three countries control the area where the southeast sea joins the southwest sea, either to the south or the north of the equator.
Though there are exceptions, for example, Sulu or the Philippines should be include in the southeast sea to the north of the equator, but appears in the page following Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China, it does not necessarily deny this categorisation, since the name of this map does not classify the toponyms into southeast sea or southwest sea countries—all the countries roughly to the north of the equator are grouped as Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China.
Besides, these maps of maritime countries follow a sequence of east-west, north-west. Coastlines of the continent are usually provided in the north, such as the coastline of Korea, Southeast China and Viet Nam in the Map of Southeast Maritime Countries, and the coastline of Zhejiang, Yunnan (Chinese provinces), Laos and Cheli in the Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China. Similarly, the coastline of Laos and Myanmar are marked on the main page of Map of Southwest Maritime Countries, and the coastline of Southern Africa appears in the second page. All the coastlines represent the actual shapes of those places. The Southern African coastline, for instance, is almost identical to this part shown on a modern map.
However, the coastlines on the eastern and western sides are absent. For instance, in the last page in Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China, instead of including the coastlines of the Arabian Peninsula or North/West Africa, it only contains toponyms in text, such as Zuofa’er and Tianfang, which are both located in the Arabian Peninsula. For this reason, some countries that paid tribute to Emperor Yongle, e.g. Bakeyi, Qilani, Shelaqi and Sunset, may all be located further to the west than Zuofa’er, and Tianfang, and probably in West Africa north of the equator. If they are in North Africa, Zheng He’s fleet should sail even further and had to enter the Mediterranean Sea via Strait of Gibraltar, of which the possibility was minimal.
These maps of maritime countries have not only coastlines in the north, but also in the south for some of them. It indicates that to the south of the maritime countries, exist continents. Map of Southeast Maritime Countries even have a mountain in the continent. A comparison between the continent in the map, and the northwest part of Australia between 126 East and 118 East will easily reveal a finding, because there is a mountain in the northeast side of the northwest coastline of Australia.
On the main page of Map of Southeast Maritime Countries, to the north of the coastline that includes a mountain, there is a big island which contains names of Ma Long, Ha Ren Wu, etc., of which the shape resembles that of Sulawesi Island of Indonesia. The Philippines, however, are not included owing to lack of space on the page. For the same reason, the rubric “No space to include Sulu Countries” that is supposed to be printed beside the caption of this page only appears on Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China. Since the name of Sulu is present in the second page of this map, we can know that the rubric at the caption refers to the Map of Southeast Maritime Countries. Knowing that Sulu stands for the Philippines, we can exclude the Philippine Islands from the candidates for the aforesaid big island. Hence the islands south of this big island will not be the southern coastlines as shown in the Map of Southeast Maritime Countries. Though there are islands between Sulawesi and Australia, they are all tiny isles and cannot have as long a coastline as illustrated in the map. Therefore the continent illustrated in Map of Southeast Maritime Countries must be the northwest part of Australia, though limited by the space in the page, the coastline was rotated somewhat and not pointing northeast as it does in reality.
Based on the climatic description of Gulibanzu as “rainy in summer and it turns cold when it rains” I supposed in my previous articles that Gulibanzu might be in Australia. However, Gulibanzu is included in the page following Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China. Thus Gulibanzu will not be in Australia, since Map of Maritime Countries to the Southeast Coast of China illustrates countries to the southeast or southwest of China and north of the equator.
Australia is only several days’ sail from Java. The closeness between them makes many scholars believe that it would be impossible if Zheng He’s fleet, after sailing around Java and the neighbouring islands many times, did not discover Australia. At the same time, nautical research had been done at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty on the eastern and western oceans. According to the book Records of those not Historified, an extensive geographic survey centred by Nanjing was conducted. The datum in the south was as far as Java that was marked at Sudai 15 degree. It’s very possible that in search of datum point further to the south, the northwest coast of Australia was found.
Thus the southern coast in the Map of Southeast Maritime Countries can clarify the concern in the world of history. Be it that Zheng He’s fleet did not discover Australia originally, but learned its existence through hearsay, Zheng He’s fleet still could have reached Australia. Otherwise the mountains on the northeast part of the northwest coast of Australia could not be illustrated on the map. Moreover, the three countries verified in the chapter of “Introduction to Ancient Southern Maritime Countries” of Volume 51 in Collection of Books, namely Huangzhi, Biqian, and Langyaxiou, may all be in Australia, since they are all described as way further to the south of Rinan or Canton. For example, Huangzhi is 30 thousand lis south of Rinan, a county established by the Han Dynasty which covered southern China and Northern Viet Nam. This distance is twice or trice of the actual distance between Rinan County and Australia. Even Antarctic which is still to the south is not that far. The distance is probably an estimate limited by the surveying technology or a response to the long route. Backed by this, we can infer that the Chinese in the Han Dynasty might have known the existence of Australia and sent envoys in order to receive tributes from cou
