Homework 2/26

No, I do not buy Menzie's argument that Zheng He's fleet made it to America before Colombus. He has a good-sounding theory but no real evidence. A huge part of Menzies' argument is that Nicollo Dicontti passed on Chinese maps to the Europeans. When there is a statue of Zheng He next to an unknown foreigner, Minzies automatically jumps to the conclusion that the unknown foreigner is Nicollo Dicontti. He also takes the fact that Zheng He's ship travels 40 knots, and makes it so that the 40 knots takes the ships to the African cape where he wants it. He uses many ideas about sea charts and fits them into his theory. He believes we must accept this theory because he is a former marine and assumes we wouldn't know any better about sea routes and winds. I think he finds a few interesting ideas to support his thesis, but none of them seem to be cold-hard evidence, which is what historians will need to accept his argument.