Author says China discovered New Zealand

History 'rewritten' with claims of wrecked 15th century junks

A best-selling author may have rewritten history with his claim that 15th-century Chinese junks have been found in New Zealand.

Historian Gavin Menzies, author of 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, said the ships proved that Chinese were the first inhabitants of New Zealand's South Island.

'It is a huge story. It will rewrite history,' he told the South China Morning Post.

The finding was officially announced yesterday on New Zealand television by marine engineer Cedric Bell. But it was first revealed by Menzies, under a strict media embargo, at a Royal Geographical Society function at the Hong Kong Football Club on Wednesday night.

The remains of 44 junks, some 150 metres long, were unearthed in March along 320km of coast on the east side of New Zealand's South Island, Menzies said.

Many of the ships were in pieces, found hundreds of metres inland, where they were hurled by huge waves caused when a comet struck south of New Zealand in the early 15th century, he says.