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          1421──明成祖永樂十九年

          ·中國人發現美洲大陸，早於哥倫布七十年；

          ·中國人發現澳洲，先於庫克船長三百五十年；

          ·中國人解決計算經度的問題，遠早於歐洲三個世紀。

          ·中國人到達麥哲倫海峽，比麥哲倫的出生還早一個甲子；

這是一部可能改寫世界歷史的驚人之作

作者加文·孟席斯(GavlrI Merlzles)花了14年時間研究這段中國船隊驚人的傳奇之旅。他應用得天獨厚的天文導航繪圖以及航海專業知識，廣泛蒐集古地圖、東西方斷簡殘篇的證據，用以支持自己的論點，成功地解釋了近年所發現的中國船隊沿路留下的遺物與碑文，以及中途的沉船，還有水手在各地祭拜媽祖的遺址。

明成祖永樂十九年正月三十日，在總兵太監鄭和的帶領下，歷史上宏偉壯觀的船隊從中國出發，其中不乏150米長的鉅艦。中國船隊如同海上仙山，陣容浩大時各種艦船達100餘艘，各類人員28000餘名。其出航的目的為“宣德化而柔遠人”，這次旅行歷經兩年，並環遊地球一週。當他們回航時，盛極一時的明成祖朱棣早已體衰勢微，中國也走上鎖國道路。巨船任其腐朽，遠航的記載也遭到譭棄。從此再也沒人知道那段歷史的真相。作者通過研究，重新講述這段驚人的發現之旅。

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 ，英國海軍退伍軍官。1937年生於中國，兩年後因二戰爆發始離開。1953年加入英國海軍，1957年在“鑽石”號驅逐艦上服役於地中海海域。1959年，在“紐芬蘭”號上擔任航海指揮官，服役於遠東海域。1960年調到“決心”號戰略導彈核潛艇，任作戰官。1968年擔任“鰛鯨”號潛艇艇長，被授予海軍中校，執行全球航行訪問任務。在服役期間，他曾率艦沿着世界上偉大的航海家哥倫布、迪亞斯、卡布拉爾和達·伽馬的航線行遍世界。退伍之後，他曾多次走訪中國與亞洲各國，專注於中國明代鄭和航海的調查與研究。