1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined by staff writer Jane mcres pagans. Hey, Jane, 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: do you remember a couple of podcasts again when we 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: talked about Rosie the Riveter and the topic of revisionist 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 1: history came up. That's right, and how people had sort 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: of misinterpreted what Rosie was. And the great thing about 8 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: revisionist history is that you have the freedom to go 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: back and correct these misconceptions about the past, as long 10 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: as you're doing it in a scholarly and authentic and 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,959 Speaker 1: well researched sort of way. And to my knowledge, one 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: of the most constantly revised stories is the discovery, if 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: you can even call it that, even that word has 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: been revised, of America. And I know when I was little, 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: I was taught the hall uh in fo two Columbus 16 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: sailed the ocean blue. He wanted to prove to everyone 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: that the world John it was not flat, and he 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: may very well have done that, but I also learned 19 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: that he found America. And then I learned later that 20 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: that's not exactly the truth. That's that's right. Yeah, people 21 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: jump on on that story a lot, saying, you know, 22 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: he didn't discover it. There were plenty of people there obviously, 23 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: so you can't use the word discover. It's a very, um, 24 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: it's very egotistical thing to do to say that just 25 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: because you know you're from a different civilization and you're 26 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: imposing your your laws and your culture on another land 27 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: that you've discovered it. It's really you've you've visited. Yeah. Yeah, 28 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: it's very Eurocentric, which which a lot of people in 29 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: the past fifty years or so really jumping on their 30 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: way we we should there. They want to take the 31 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: emphasis away from Europe and be like, we should have 32 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: a worldly perspective on things. Yeah. So Columbus, just because 33 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: you had cuter breaches and some of the other explorers 34 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: out there, doesn't mean you get to claim America. And 35 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: we know for a very very true fact that people 36 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: from Asia came over to America long before Columbus. We're 37 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: talking some ten thousand years ago when they crossed the 38 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,919 Speaker 1: Bearing Land Bridge from Siberia into what is now modern 39 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: day Alaska. Yeah, they think that's how it was originally populated, right, 40 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: But there's a scholar named Gavin Menzies who wrote a 41 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: book back in two thousand three, I think, called fourteen 42 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: twenty one, the year China discovered America, and this caused 43 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: a huge flush. First of all, it was a huge 44 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: It was hugely popular. It got like the best seller 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,839 Speaker 1: list and everything like that. But um, it wasn't well 46 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: received by a lot of the so called respected historians. 47 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: We're talking anthropologists, archaeologists, historians and with more linguists, all 48 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: these people who would be very involved and studying the 49 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: way that a culture attaches itself to a land, and 50 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: the way that people interact and how trade occurs, all 51 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: these different pieces of evidence, tangible and non tangible, that 52 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: would prove a culture had been assimilated into another. That's right, 53 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: and according to Menzies theory, we should emphasize that the 54 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: Chinese actually arrived in America explored it, um about seven 55 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: decades before Columbus even set foot there. And it's story 56 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: goes that this Chinese admiral zang He I believe it's 57 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: pronounced not sure, but he It's well known that this 58 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: guy went on extensive trips and he explored a lot 59 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: of the world. Um, but it's not accepted that he 60 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: actually went all the way to America. Menzies claims that 61 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: he in fact did, and we should mention that, you know, 62 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: this guy in his own he uh, he was a 63 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: great explorer and he had these ships. The Chinese ships 64 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,119 Speaker 1: were called junks and uh, they were gargangeline, they were um, 65 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: they dwarfed the ships that actually Columbus sailed on well, 66 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: and he was part of the Ming dynasty, and they 67 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: had what like a twenty eight thousand person fleet, right, yeah, 68 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: that's what I yeah, yeah, so the ships had to 69 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: be pretty big to accommodate all of those sailors. And 70 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: just like sailors from the Western hemisphere had their own 71 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: thoughts and theories about the sea, and they had their 72 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: you know, mythical colony of Atlantis, these Chinese sailors had 73 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: their own ideas about the sea and exploration too, and 74 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: one of the things they believed in was Fu sang. 75 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: And I'm not sure if I'm getting that pronunciation quite right, 76 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: but please forgive me if you're saying, was this mythological 77 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: or legendary land really analogous to Atlanta's. And then a 78 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: couple of years ago, a Baptist missionary named Dr. Hendon, 79 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: and Harris found a map of what he thinks was 80 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: through saying, and he noted that it looked a whole 81 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: lot like North America. And what's more, the map noted 82 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: all of these geographic and topographic likenesses between North America 83 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: and f You's saying. It even showed something like the 84 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: Grand Canyon. And people started to wonder, well, how would 85 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: the Chinese have such an intricate knowledge of North America 86 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: if they hadn't been there? Is right? And Harris tried 87 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: to write about this and and and advertise it to 88 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: people to make it known, and uh not a lot 89 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: of people jumped on board with his with his ideas 90 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: UM until Menzies came along, and he really loved it. 91 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: And actually Menzies is a kind of amateur historian. He 92 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: really has naval experience. He was in the British Royal Navy, 93 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: and that's really the experience that he calls upon to 94 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: UM to claim that he can that he can make 95 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: these interpretations, because he claims that he can read these 96 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: maps better than like normal historians can. He can read 97 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: the maps and the charts. And there was actually another 98 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: map called the fourteen eight Tea map I believe that 99 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: shows oceans and seven continents accurately, and they believe that this, 100 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,480 Speaker 1: you know, proves beyond a doubt that like the Chinese 101 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: knew much more than we thought they did. And I 102 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: think that this fourteen eighteen map even shows formations like 103 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: the Potomac River exactly where they're supposed to be, shocking, 104 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: and the continents are the right size and they're in 105 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: the right locations. And Menzies is claiming that not only 106 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: did the Chinese explore the world first, but also the 107 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: Europeans use Chinese maps to guide them to the New World. 108 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: Figure that is, it's really bothering a lot of historians 109 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: that he's making these claims too, because you know, they've 110 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: based their their lives studying things that that Menzies is 111 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: calling all falsehoods, and so um Mensies is pointing this 112 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: in and saying, hey, hey, I know I'm getting a 113 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: lot of critics, but like, look at look at what 114 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: they're staking. It is. One of the problems with the 115 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: fourteen eighteen map that the critics have pointed out is 116 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: that China, as far as it's depicted on the map, 117 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: it's sort of a mass, like it has a blabbih shape. 118 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: It's not really true to form, and it's not emphasized 119 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: and um delineated as clearly as it should be. If 120 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: the Chinese in fact due this map of the world, 121 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: you would think that if they had made this discovery, 122 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: they would have really put a lot of emphasis on 123 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: their own land. I think if they knew anything, they 124 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: would know that, but very well. And also another another 125 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: point that critics point to is that the map is 126 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: based on the fact that the world is around and UH, 127 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: historians are pretty confident that the Chinese did not know 128 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,919 Speaker 1: this at that time. So, with all of these glaring 129 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: loopholes and the theory, while Northwood minsies continue to pursue 130 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: his studies, and the answer is that there are a 131 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: lot of really strange coincidences going on. UH. There are 132 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: a lot of Native American folk stories that support the 133 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: fact that the Chinese were there. I think that even 134 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: one of the Incan rulers had a legend that he 135 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: communicated with the Chinese admiral who taught him how to 136 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: govern his land. We know that the Native Americans had horses, 137 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: and while for a while historians presumed that the horses 138 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: came from Europeans, some people presumed that they came from 139 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: the Chinese. Now, because we know that Chinese soldiers used 140 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: horses very very religiously in their cavalry. That's the story 141 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: is that the Spaniards brought horses over to the first 142 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: time to America. I mean giving us a side that 143 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: that his horses were actually brought over originally, but when extinct, 144 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: like thousands and thousands of years ago. Uh, Now they think, 145 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: or at least menzies think that China. China was actually 146 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: the first one to bring it over after that. And 147 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,239 Speaker 1: what's more, and the Pacific Northwest archaeologists have found Chinese 148 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: coins in eight different places. And then somewhere else than 149 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: the Midwest, they found a Native American garment that has 150 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: it's about three years old as far as they can 151 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: date at but it has Chinese beads on it. So 152 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: people are wondering, well, where do these things come from 153 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: if the Chinese weren't here working with these people. One 154 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: of the stories that I find really interesting is a 155 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: different take on the story I was told in history class, 156 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: which was had to do with the Aztec emperor Montezuma. 157 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: And the story was everyone knows is that Ortez went 158 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: to meet Montezuma, and uh, the emperor mistook him for 159 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: a god, and uh, that's how Cortez was able to 160 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: sort of infiltrate um. But Mensies actually postulates that the 161 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: Montezuma actually mistook Cortes for his grandfather returning from the east, 162 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: as if he were familiar with Eastern people at that time. 163 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: And so Mensi's interpretations they certainly seemed to hold water. 164 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: But when you look at some of the common factors 165 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: that are just missing from the Chinese coming to America 166 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: first story, you have to stop and say now that 167 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: that can't possibly be. Like we know that when the 168 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: Norse came, the Vikings came, they were there about a 169 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: thousand years before Columbus came, seventy years before the Chinese 170 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: would have been there, and we can still see today 171 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: even though they are in ruins, the stone outposts that 172 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: they built. So if the Chinese came where the you 173 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: know that the standing artifacts, you know, the ruins, the 174 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: structors that they would have shown the people how to build, 175 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: and vice versa. And why did the Chinese take back 176 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: things like gold and corn and tomatoes like the European 177 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: the European fleet stead when they came back to Europe 178 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: from the New Worlds where there's no smoking gun that 179 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: really mens mensies can point to. And another thing is that, uh, 180 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:16,079 Speaker 1: some historians, notably Robert finlay Um has pointed out that, uh, 181 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: the Chinese could not have nourished the horses that they 182 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: supposedly brought over on their ships. Apparently horses need a 183 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: certain amount of water, obviously, and they were surrounded by 184 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: by saltwater, and they didn't have the the decel and 185 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: theization uh processes that would have been appropriate to uh 186 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: feed all these sources water water everywhere of it and 187 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: dropped to drink. How about that? And actually, one historian 188 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: in particular, doctor Jeff White, he's so riled up about 189 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: the glaring and accuracies and an authenticity of Mensi's account 190 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: that he has filed a complaint against the UK publishers 191 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: who published Menzi's book. And um, I'm using air quotes 192 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: even though you can't see them. He called it Mensi's 193 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: history book, and you can just you can feel the 194 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: division just rolling off of that description. He's very upset 195 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: about it, and he makes some some start claims. He's 196 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: He's like, oh, look at this map. He even claims 197 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: that one of the maps that Menzies uses evidence is 198 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: a fake, that it was made for Menzies. Isn't that wild? 199 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:11,439 Speaker 1: And we all know how to do that, you sort of, 200 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: you know, roll it and ground coffee and then you 201 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: so it looks really authentic and all. And he and 202 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:18,959 Speaker 1: he actually points the evidence that like this map was 203 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: drawn based on Jesuit maps of the seventeenth century because 204 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,439 Speaker 1: it makes the same mistakes and the mistakes that California 205 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: was an island, etcetera, etcetera, That China is at the 206 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: center of the world, and the text was translated into 207 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: Chinese from Jesuit. Right, so there you go. But if 208 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: you want to talk about another smoking gun, I guess 209 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 1: you could say to borrow Jane's phrase again. When the 210 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: Ming dynasty eventually collapsed, the dynasty that overcame it wanted 211 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 1: to bury all evidence that had ever existed from the 212 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,079 Speaker 1: Ming dynasty, wanted to cover up out their accomplishments, everything 213 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: that they had done, because they were establishing a new 214 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: rule in order. Yeah, and you can never prove that 215 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: Menzies is wrong because all this evidence is destroyed. Um 216 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,680 Speaker 1: and critics actually point to uh Mensie's arrogance in this 217 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: area saying he's MENSI is quoted as a saying there's 218 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: not one chance in a million that I'm wrong, And 219 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: so he's sort of sticking in the face of these 220 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: respected historians that you can understand how how upset they 221 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: can get over this. You know, Wow, that's a pretty 222 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: amazing hue restaurant there. But whether or not it is true, 223 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: we may never know. But it is testament to the 224 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: fact that history isn't a stale and uh finalized topic 225 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: of study. It's constantly changing and the revisious history really 226 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: points to that. And that's what's so exciting about it. 227 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: Not that not that you can be an amateur historian 228 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: and go out there and fabricate maps and make up 229 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: your own theories about who found what first, but that 230 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: this is the field of study that's open to, you know, 231 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: the new and rising, and it's the people in the 232 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: And it's still popular too, because one thing about Mensie's 233 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: fame is that he was able to create a website 234 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: around it and people would respond with their own evidence. 235 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: They're like, oh, there there's a junk buried uh off 236 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: the coast of where I live, and you know, I 237 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: know and like people just coming in and um as 238 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: he is actually writing a sequel or he did write 239 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: a sequel um based on like evidence that he got 240 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: submitted from fans. How about that well, and speaking of 241 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: submitting evidence from fans, If you ever have an idea 242 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: for one of our history podcasts or how to history 243 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,200 Speaker 1: question that you want to know, go ahead an email 244 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: me and Jane at podcast at how stuff works dot com. 245 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: Just put history in the subject line and we'll be 246 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: happy to tackle some of your queries and then the 247 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: interim to satisfy your desire to learn more about China 248 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: and some famous Chinese rulers out there. Be sure to 249 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: check out how stuff works dot com for more on 250 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Does it how stuff 251 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 1: works dot com. Let us know what you think. Send 252 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.