1434 - Softcover

A swashbuckling account . . . full of astonishing characters . . . sure to spur discussion . . . his descriptions of places he visits as he weaves this rich, unorthodox tapestry make you want to go there. (St. Petersburg Times)

The claims of 1434 are revolutionary. (Evening Standard (UK))

[Menzies] makes history sound like pure fun. . . . This high-spiritedness which infuses every page of 1421, makes his book a seductive read. (New York Times Magazine)

The New York Times bestselling author of 1421 presents compelling new evidence that the European Renaissance was spurred in large part by Chinese advances in science, art, and technology. The Renaissance formed the basis of our modern world. Until now, scholars have considered that it came about as a result of a re-examining the ideas and ideals of classical Greece and Rome. But now Gavin Menzies makes the startling arguement that a sophisticated Chinese delegation visited Italy in 1434, sparked the Renaissance, and forever changed the course of Western Civilization. After that date the authority of Aristotle and Ptolemy was overturned and artistic conventions were challenged, as was Arabic astronomy and cartography. A stunning reappraisal of history is about to be published.

Florence and Venice of the 15th century were hubs of world trade, attracting traders from across the world and accounting for a sizeable influx of Asiatic peoples. Menzies presents evidence that a large Chinese fleet, official ambassadors of the Emperor, arrived in Tuscany in 1434 where they met with Pope Eugenius IV in Florence. A mass of information was given by the Chinese delegation to the Pope and this entourage--concerning world maps (which Menzies argues were later given to Columbus), astronomy, mathematics, art, printing, architecture, steel manufacture, civil engineering, military machines, surveying, cartography, genetics, and more. This gift of knowledge sparked the inventiveness of the Renaissance--Da Vinci s inventions, the Copernican revolution, Galileo, etc. Following 1434 Europeans embraced Chinese intellectual ideas, discoveries, and inventions. These have formed the basis of European civilization just as much as Greek thought and Roman law. In short, China provided the spark that set the Renaissance ablaze.