Man Who Made Up Crap Relating to Columbus Aims to Do Same with da Vinci

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Or, as Reuters would shockingly have it, Columbus debunker sets sights on Leonardo da Vinci. It's amazing -- every scholar who has looked at Gavin Menzies's work, which claims, for instance, that the Chinese circumnavigated Greenland in 1421 -- think 'ice', folks -- has demonstrated this work is utter rubbish. Menzies is posing as an expert on Chinese history, and yet he can't read any Chinese. The guy has even been shown to lie about his own history. But this writer from Reuters presents the story as if there is a serious controversy about Menzies's claims, based, seemingly, on the fact that Menzies has "gained an international following among readers." The Reuters dolt does present some academic criticism, but here's his idea of a scholarly response to that criticism: "Menzies brushes off the criticism, pointing to shelves of files in the rooms of his basement study filled with material he says supports his theories."

See, he pointed to some full shelves! So his research must be OK after all!

Comments

  1. Bob Murphy7:47 PM

    Would you say the historians have a consensus on this issue?

    As far as the Greenland stuff, at what point was it green? Was 1421 during the medieval warm period?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:56 PM

    check out www.1421exposed.com for a range of comments on Menzies and his method, and especially the transcript of the Australian TV program

    Geoff Wade

    arigpw@nus.edu.sg

    ReplyDelete
  3. gcallah10:38 PM

    I think 1421 was towards the end of the Viking settlement of Greenland, which ended due to cooler weather coming on. But, in any case, even at its balmiest, only the very southern portions of that huge island could support agriculture.

    ReplyDelete

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