NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Zheng He steered by the stars?
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Nov 24, 12:28 +1100
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Nov 24, 12:28 +1100
That the Chinese were very innovative in all sorts of technical areas seems clear. However a new book '1421, The Year China Discovered the World', by Gavin Menzies, published in Australia by Random House, postulates that the Chinese admiral Zheng He and his fleet of massive 9 masted junks explored much of what we assume was left to European navigators to 'discover' some centuries later. Its fascinating stuff. The contention is that not only did his vice admirals Hong Bao and Zhou Man in different ships circumnavigate Australia (hitherto first credited to the Englishman Flinders in the early 19th century) but that settlements were established complete with observation towers and mines were exploited for a variety of minerals. I should add that this theory is being contested, not least by Chinese historians who thought they already knew all about Zheng He. The part that intrigues me is the idea that these sailors 'steered by the stars'. The history of European navigation is fairly well known and documented. But does anyboby know about what instuments and techniques Chinese junk sailors may have had at their disposal? I know they had the compass, and may have been introduced it to the west, but star measuring instruments? Polynesians had a compass that was the night sky itself, knew the diffferent stars as they rose and set and could set course according to them. I suppose any people that studied the stars for long enough could have independantly devised ways of using star positions. Does anyone know any more?
