Menzie's Argument

Do you buy Menzie's argument that Zheng He's fleet made it to America before Columbus? Evaluate the evidence he used and explain why or why not.

I do not completely buy Menzie’s argument that Zheng He’s fleet made it to America before Columbus. It is an interesting idea but the use of evidence by Menzie does not prove his argument as well as it should. The narrator states his idea as a “theory that defines academic opinion,” already losing its credibility. Menzie states that an Italian merchant, Niccolo deConti, had sailed with Zheng He to America and that his accounts were used to make a map of the western world. It is unknown whether Niccolo deConti had anything to do with the map, but it is known that a merchant provided some information for the map. Menzie connects the two, though there is not proof to add credibility. Menzie also states that the Chinese ship, junks, would have been ideal for the journey across the Atlantic and would have been able to withstand the conditions, much better than the Columbus’ ships. The difference between the junk’s ability, what it could have done and what they actually did, and it is unknown is it unknown whether or not they actually reached America. A somewhat substantial evidence would be that the Native American DNA is closer to the Chinese than to the Europeans or African DNA. Although, it needs to be further explored in order to find out if it proves anything.