chinese cartography china beat columbus to it. perhaps...
An ancient map that strongly suggests Chinese seamen were first round the world
▻http://itsmu.biz/view-chinese-cartography-china-beat-columbus-to-it-perhaps-_aHR0cDovL3d3dy5lY
C’est pas tout récent mais très intéressant
▻http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/cf_images/20060114/0206BK1.jpg
Jan 12th 2006
THE brave seamen whose great voyages of exploration opened up the world are iconic figures in European history. Columbus found the New World in 1492; Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488; and Magellan set off to circumnavigate the world in 1519. However, there is one difficulty with this confident assertion of European mastery: it may not be true.
It seems more likely that the world and all its continents were discovered by a Chinese admiral named Zheng He, whose fleets roamed the oceans between 1405 and 1435. His exploits, which are well documented in Chinese historical records, were written about in a book which appeared in China around 1418 called “The Marvellous Visions of the Star Raft”.