1434
Subtitle: the year a magnificent Chinese fleet sailed to Italy and ignited the Renaissance
By: Gavin Menzies
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2009
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780007269556
Subjects: Renaissance; Civilization; Chinese influences; History
Other titles: Fourteen thirty-four
Description: Historian Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that in the year 1434, China--then the world's most technologically advanced civilization--provided the spark that set the European Renaissance ablaze. From that date onward, Europeans embraced Chinese intellectual ideas, discoveries, and inventions, all of which form the basis of western civilization today. Florence and Venice of the early fifteenth century were hubs of world trade, attracting traders from across the globe. Based on years of research, this marvelous history argues that a Chinese fleet--official ambassadors of the emperor--arrived in Tuscany in 1434, where they were received by Pope Eugenius IV in Florence. The delegation presented the influential pope with a wealth of Chinese learning from a diverse range of fields: art, geography (including world maps that were passed on to Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan), astronomy, mathematics, printing, architecture, steel manufacturing, military weaponry, and more. This vast treasure trove of knowledge spread across Europe, igniting the legendary inventiveness of the Renaissance, including the work of such geniuses as da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo, and more.
Notes: Originally published: London: HarperCollins, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: I. Setting the Scene; title: 1.A Last Voyage; title: 2. The Emperor's Ambassador; title: 3. The Fleets Are Prepared for the Voyage to the Barbarians; title: 4. Zheng He's Navigators' Calculation of Latitude and Longitude; title: 5. Voyage to the Red Sea; title: 6. Cairo and the Red Sea-Nile Canal; title: II. China Ignites the Renaissance; title: 7. To the Venice of Niccolo Da Conti; title: 8. Paolo Toscanelli's Florence; title: 9. Toscanelli Meets the Chinese Ambassador; title: 10. Collimblis's and Macellan's World Maps; title: 11. The World Maps of Johannes Schoner, Martin Waldsee Muller, and Admiral Zheng He; title: 12. Toscanelli's New Astronomy; title: 13. The Florentine Mathematicians: Toscanelli, Alberti, Nicholas of Cusa, and Regiomontanus; title: 14. Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo Da Vinci; title: 15. Leonardo Da Vinci and Chinese Inventions; title: 16. Leonardo, Di Giorgio, Taccola, and Alberti; title: 17. Silk and Rice; title: 18. Grand Canals: China and Lombardy; title: 19. Firearms and Steel; title: 20. Printing; title: Note continued: 21. China's Contribution to the Renaissance; title: III. China's Legacy; title: 22. Tragedy on the High Seas: Zheng He's Fleet Destroyed by a Tsunami; title: 23. The Conquistadores Inheritance: Our Lady of Victory.