In searching the Internet a while ago I came across some information that was completely new to my knowledge of world history. It seems that some eighty years before Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria to what would later be termed the West Indies, there was a man in China by the name of Zheng He (“Cheng Ho”[i] with many superior maritime achievements for the time. Yet these achievements became “lost” to the so-called superior western civilization and history.
What were those achievements? Well, between the years A.D. 1405 and A.D. 1433, Zheng He led at least seven major maritime expeditions covering at least 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) and visiting at least 30 different countries. He commanded the largest fleet of ships for five centuries to come. His armada included 300 ships and 28,000 sailors. The largest of his ships were more than 400 feet long and 160 feet wide, with nine masts supporting red silk sails, which makes them the largest wooden ships ever built.[ii]
For comparison, the Santa Maria upon which Columbus sailed was only 85 feet long.[iii]
In regards to the great Phoenician ships, ocean voyages of three years’ duration were made during the time of Solomon (1000 B.C.) to the mysterious land of Ophir and back. In 600 B.C., Phoenician ships circumnavigated the continent of Africa. And at various times, Phoenician ships are thought to have sailed across the Atlantic ocean to the Americas.
These Phoenician ships were almost twice the length of Columbus’s ship, yet they pale in contrast to Zheng He’s flagships. Here we have a massive Chinese ocean-going fleet with ships almost three times the length of the mighty Phoenician ships and almost five times the length of the prize ships coming out of Europe. Even the last and largest of the wooden ships from the United States such as the USS Constellation and USS Constitution do not compare[iv]
Zheng He’s ships had multiple decks and luxury cabins. He had supply ships to carry horses, troop transport ships, and tankers to carry fresh water[v] The full contingent of 28,000 crew members included language interpreters, astrologers, astronomers, pharmacologists, ship-construction specialists, doctors, and social protocol officers.
Furthermore, not only was his fleet far ahead of Europe, but the Chinese and Indian empires had been wealthier and more advanced than any place in Europe for thousands of years. At least by the eighth century A.D there were large ships on which people lived their entire lives; they were born, they married and they died there. There were multiple dwellings, gardens, and several hundred sailors on board.
By Zheng He’s time China and India together accounted for more than half of the world’s gross national product. Most current experts readily admit that at this time the ships of Zheng He had the capability to reach Europe or sail the other way to the Pacific Islands and even to American shores. Whether he did so, or whether any of his officers did so is a subject of debate at the present time.
So in view of this I asked myself, in all of my reading about the history of the world over half a century, from elementary school through high school, from college through graduate studies, from Weekly Readers to books, magazines and newspaper articles many thousand times over, why had I never heard of this man or the sophistication of China’s maritime industry? Had I just missed it or had my pride caused me to ignore it?[vi]
Perhaps, I thought, it was more than my selfish pride; perhaps American pride had got in the way. After all, I had never given China any in-depth consideration as part of my history classes other than a vague reference to early origins of paper, fireworks and ancient settlers coming across the Behring Strait land bridge into the Americas.
Yet according to what I found in the history of Zheng He, my lack of information regarding this Chinese admiral might have been caused by something other than personal ignorance or pride; it might have been the result of a decision by the Chinese themselves to isolate their people from the rest of the world.
More to History than “History”
Toward the end of Zheng He’s life, the government of China was overthrown. Confucian scholars, worried about what foreign cultures might do to their morals and values, took control. Not only did they end the voyages of Zheng He’s fleet, but they also halted construction of any new ships. To prevent any backsliding, they destroyed Zheng He’s sailing records and set about dismantling China’s navy.
By the time of Columbus, the Chinese government had made it a capital offense to build a boat with more than two masts, and 25 years later, they ordered the destruction of all ocean-going ships. The greatest navy in history, a navy that a century earlier had amassed 3,500 ships, was thus extinguished, and China set a course that would lead to poverty and decline. And thus the greatest maritime fleet of its time would seemingly disappear from the pages of history.
“This is all well and nice,” you might say, “but how does this freshly revealed tidbit of history relate to the Book of Mormon?”[vii] “And more specifically, how does this relate to the central question of your paper, ‘Was the Liahona, in part, a magnetic compass?’ ”
My response would be that the exploits of Zheng He tell us that sometimes what we have been taught concerning “history” really isn’t all there is to history, and that by studying certain events more thoroughly we might obtain some different perspectives. Whether these perspectives ultimately prove true in every detail is for future generations to decide. What is important is that without questions new perspectives would never arise in the first place.
Nephite Cultural Item
In order to more fully illustrate this point and apply it to the history portrayed in the Book of Mormon, I have decided to focus on a particular Nephite cultural item — a venerated instrument called the “Liahona” (Alma 37:38), or as it is also referred to in the Book of Mormon, a “compass,” a “ball,” or a “director.”[viii] I have approached this subject with four main questions, which have become the topics of the corresponding parts of this paper:
- Can the Book of Mormon narrative and other scriptures support the idea that the Liahona contained a magnetic needle? If so,
- Was the magnetic compass known in ancient times? And if so,
- Could Nephi and Lehi have been in the right place geographically and at the right time chronologically to have become acquainted with a magnetic compass? Additionally,
- Was there support for the magnetic compass being ancient (600 B.C.) and associated with Israelites coming to America before the time of publication of the Book of Mormon? And if so, would that change how we view the Liahona?
Stay tuned in Meridian to see what conclusions I have reached regarding these four fascinating questions.
