Ancient Chinese Science & Technology That Made The Discovery of America Possible
Posted on Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
In order for ancient Trans Pacific travel to the Americas to have been possible for the Chinese and other Asians they would have had to have the technology that would make such a trip possible. Only desperate men with no regard for their lives would forage far out into the ocean without navigational knowledge and the tools necessary to use that knowledge. That is precisely why it took Europeans until the period between 1487 & 1577 (90 years) after The Inconvenient Maps and new navigational information and technology from China had shown up in Europe to develop the confidence to sail into “The European Age of Discovery”.
What is apparently hard for the world to accept is that Asians had the technology to make such trips from ancient times. It isn’t a wild claim. Scholarly works by recognized experts on these topics such as Joseph Needham, Robert Temple and many others have set up the basis for these theories to be expressed and explored. (It must be stated here and clearly understood that to my knowledge neither Dr. Needham or Dr. Temple have ever made claims or theorized on the matter of ancient Chinese or Asian Trans Pacific travel.) What they both have shown through their research is that the ancient Chinese had developed and maintained major technological knowledge and equipment well in advance of their European counterparts. These inventions and discoveries included among many others advanced astronomy dating back to 2136 BC, the magnetic compass, recorded navigational ability and shipbuilding skills that produced fleets of ships the size of which wouldn’t be rivaled until the mid 20th century.
The acceptance of the above premise is foundationally important to your possible acceptance of the theory of the ancient Chinese discovery and exploration of America. If you cannot or will not accept ancient Chinese technological advances then “the dots do not connect” and the rest of the theory fails at least for you.
However if you have a problem with the above then you will certainly stumble over the fact that the Chinese were “deep well drilling” all the way back to 100 BCE. This started out as their search for salt but soon led to their discovery and use of natural gas and petroleum. This is not theory. This is accepted fact and a stellar example of ancient Chinese technology. (The Genius of China/Robert Temple, pages 56-59, Deep Drilling For Natural Gas and pages 89-92, Petroleum and Natural Gas As Fuel.)
Another example of Chinese ingenuity was their ability to fly probably from at least the 4th Century BC. The first recorded flying event occurred between 550 & 577 AD. Even earlier Taoist author Ko Hung 282-343 AD had made numerous references to “hard wind” in conjunction with references to gliding flight. This is interesting because it appears that the only ones “hang gliding” were the Taoist priests who referred to themselves as “feathered guests”. (The Genius of China, pages 191-195, Manned Flight with Kites) and (Dr. Benjamin Olshin “Feathered Guests” and Taoist priests/Feathered Guests.)
If there is one book you should buy for this theory to make sense it would be The Genius of China by Robert Temple. Not because the book promotes the theory but because the book details the environment in which ancient Chinese inventions were made.
It was in this innovative environment that the knowledge of astronomy grew, the compass was invented, world navigation became possible, Chinese map making flourished, shipbuilding technology increased and Chinese inventions occurred to meet the needs of an advancing civilization. This advancement did not happen on a straight line upward. There were times in ancient China when books, maps, and even scholars were destroyed. However, overall there was invention and technological progress until 1433 when China began isolating itself from the rest of the world and in my opinion gradually sank into its own 500 year Dark Ages from which it has just recently emerged.
Navigation is an outgrowth of astronomy. Astronomy was huge in the ancient world as evidenced by the pyramids located around the world as well as the observatories of the North American Anasazi Indians and numerous other ancient people. The story of the Magi is the story of three Sage/Astronomers from the East responding to what they saw as an star anomaly in the skies at the beginning of the Common Era.
Astronomy, the magnetic compass, maps and centuries of shipbuilding advances made Chinese Trans Pacific voyages to the Americas possible and I believe many of them took the trip. Even if one argues that no such trips were made it is not possible for them to argue that the technology for such trips was unavailable to them. Information refuting that is everywhere.
Google:
- The History of Chinese Astronomy
- Ancient Chinese Navigation
- Ancient Chinese Compass
- Ancient Chinese Shipbuilding
The Beak of the 10th Sun Raven STILL GLOWS!
