China map claims America discovery

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- If a soon-to-be-published Chinese map is accepted, it was a Chinese admiral, and not Christopher Columbus, who would get the credit for discovering America.

The map, to be unveiled in Beijing and London next week, shows North and South America and it is claimed to be a 1763 copy of another map made in 1418, reports the BBC.

That would mean the Chinese admiral discovered and mapped America long before Columbus' 1492 arrival.

But skeptics are checking if the map was made in 1763. Even so, they can say it is still only the mapmaker's word that he copied if from a 1418 map.

The BBC report said Chinese characters written beside the map say it was drawn by Mo Yi Tong and copied from a map made in the 16th year of the Emperor Yongle, or 1418. The map was bought for about $500 from a Shanghai dealer by a Chinese lawyer and collector.