{"product_id":"1421-9780553815221","title":"1421","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 8 March 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. The ships, some nearly five hundred feet long, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di''s loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was ''to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas'' and unite the world in Confucian harmony. \u003cbr\u003eTheir journey would last for over two years and take them around the globe but by the time they returned home, China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. And so the great ships were left to rot and the records of their journey were destroyed. And with them, the knowledge that the Chinese had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, and Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook...\u003cbr\u003eThe result of fifteen years research, 1421 is Gavin Menzies'' enthralling account of the voyage of the Chinese fleet, the re\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMenzies has come up with something entirely new... it is a startling claim * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eExhaustively researched... an intriguing and highly persuasive thesis, told with passion and energy * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003ePopular history at its best * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eA book as engrossing as any adventure story * Daily Mail *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Transworld Publishers Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48735342068055,"sku":"9780553815221","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780553815221.jpg?v=1723810137","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/1421-9780553815221","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}