A talk for the 60+ festival Portsmouth UK about a terrific book I read...

1. 1421: The Year China Discovered the World? * A Personal Discovery for the Portsmouth over 60s festival October 2011 by Peter Missen

6. The author – Gavin Menzies

20. Kangnido 1402 The Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo Jido "Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries and Capitals" is a map of the world made in Korea in 1402. It is 158.5 cm by 168.0 cm, painted on silk.

21. De Virga World Map 1411-15 This map, made by Albertinus de Virga between 1411 and 1415, is drawn on a piece of parchment 696x440 mm and also includes a calendar and two tables. One table was for calculating lunar changes, the other the date of Easter.

22. 1418 Ming Dynasty Map?

23. 1418 Ming Map?

24. Pizzigano Chart 1424 The Pizzigano chart is an Italian portolan chart dated 1424. The map contains large islands in the North Atlantic Ocean to the west of Spain and Portugal!

25. Pizzigano Chart 1424 GM

26. Pizzigano Chart 1424 GM

27. Fra Mauro's Planisphere 1459 Fra Mauro's planisphere is "considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography" according to Roberto Almagià. The map was made by the Venetian monk Fra Mauro. The map is a circular planisphere drawn on parchment and set in a wooden frame, about two meters in diameter.

28. Cantino World Map 1502 The Cantino World Map is named after Alberto Cantino , an agent for the Duke of Ferrara, who successfully smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502.

29. Cantino World Map 1502 GM

30. Waldseemüller Map 1507 The Waldseemüller map is a wall map of the world drawn by German cartographer Martin Waldseem ü ller. It was one of the first maps to chart latitude and longitude precisely, following the example of Ptolemy, and was the first map to use the name “America".

31. The Piri Reis map was compiled in 1513 from military intelligence by the Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, on gazelle skin. The half of the map that survives shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy. Piri Reis Map 1513

32. Piri Reis Map 1513 GM

33. Jean Rotz Map 1542 The Jean Rotz map was drawn by the official 'hydrographer' to King Henry VIII. The map depicts the coastlines of Africa, Asia, India, and China with great accuracy, yet more surprisingly it also shows the east, west, and northernmost parts of Australia, some two centuries before Cook made his 'discovery'.

34. Google maps 21 st Century

35. Google maps 21 st Century

36. Google maps - Caribbean Puerto Rico Guadeloupe

54. Voyages of the Treasure Fleets, 1421-3