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The Island of Seven Cities: Where the Chinese Settled When They Discovered America | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Chiasson
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy Used: $2.50
You Save: $23.45 (90%)
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 609770
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0312361866
Dewey Decimal Number: 971.69
EAN: 9780312361860
ASIN: 0312361866
Publication Date: May 2, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Shelf wear, may contain some notes or highlighting, corners/edges worn and bent, may not include companion materials like cdroms or access codes.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Island of Seven Cities unveils the first tangible proof that the Chinese settled in the New World before Columbus.
In the summer of 2003, architect Paul Chiasson decided to climb a mountain he had never explored on Cape Breton Island, where eight generations of his Acadian family had lived. One of the oldest points of exploration and settlement in the Americas, with a written history dating back to the first days of European discovery, Cape Breton is littered with remnants of old settlements. But that day Chiasson found a road that was unique. Well made and consistently wide, and at one time clearly bordered with stone walls, the road had been a major undertaking. But he could find no record of it. In the two years of detective work that followed, Chiasson systematically surveyed the history of Europeans in North America and came to a stunning conclusion: the ruins he had stumbled upon – an entire townsite on a mountaintop---did not belong to the Portuguese, the French, the English, or the Scots. And they predated John Cabot’s 1497 “discovery” of the island.
Using aerial and site photographs, maps and drawings, and his own expertise as an architect, Chiasson re-creates how he pieced together the clues to one of the world’s great mysteries: a large Chinese colony existed and thrived on Canadian shores well before the European Age of Discovery. He addresses how the ruins had been previously overlooked or misunderstood, and how the colony was abandoned and forgotten, in China and in the New World. And he discovers the traces the colony left in the storytelling and culture of the Mi’kmaq, whose written language, clothing, technical knowledge, religious beliefs, and legends, he argues, expose deep cultural ties to China.
A gripping account of an earth-shaking discovery, The Island of Seven Cities will change the way we think about our world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
History's Discoveries June 1, 2008
R. DelParto (Virginia Beach, VA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of Architect Paul Chiasson's motivation to writing THE ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES: WHERE THE CHINESE SETTLED WHEN THEY DISCOVERED AMERICA was his life changing experience of facing mortality. Chiasson discovered he was HIV-positive. Although the book is not an autobiography of his experience, there is semi-autobiographical information that he shares with his readers, which inspired him to write the book, revisiting his birthplace of Nova Scotia and rediscovering his ancestral history closely linked to French explorer Samuel de Champlain. But the compelling aspect of his discovery is that upon learning of his illness, he hiked to the mountaintop on Cape Breton Island where past generations of his family had lived, and by accident, he came across ruins that may have dated back to the Ming dynasty. And with this discovery he formulated a hypothesis claiming that the Chinese may have landed in North America before European explorers.
This books ties in with a previous book examining China's possible role and contribution to the exploration of the New World, 1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD by Gavin Menzies. Drawing from Menzies's discovery, Chiasson went on a two-year research expedition to finding more about the ruins and proving that they were settled by the Chinese. The Mi'kmaq, an indigenous people of the island, may have derived their culture from the Chinese, and in turn, helped French settlers to live and thrive on the island centuries later. But Chiasson's thought-provoking book is purely hypothesis, and extensive research by archaeologists and historians are still in order for his findings to be definite; if proven correct, this part of history adds another dimension to the understanding of world history.
ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES is a fascinating read. Chiasson offers insight to the many facets of how the exploration and discovery of the North American continent and its various settlements included a global community of different countries from the West and possibly may have included the East. For several historians this is skeptical history, but for curious minds wanting to understand the discovery of the New World from different perspectives, this is an interesting book.
Surprising China information November 8, 2007
Duane E. Massoll (Lake Mary, FL)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a great follow-up to confirm what I had previously read in "1421 the Year the Chinese Disvovered America" His research was extensive and his tie in to 1421 was great.
 Informative And Inspiring October 24, 2007
Bertrand R. Trotter (Southern California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Easy and a delight to read, Paul Chaisson's The Island of Seven Cities both informed me of the early Chinese in North America and inspired me to read more. Having already read Gavin Menzies 1421 - The Year China Discovered the World and complimented with some background while I was in China on reading Bamber Gascoigne's The Dynasties of China, I can't help but concur the Chinese had every tool, skill and knowledge to have almost conqured the world. Had it not for the Mandarins taking control in the late 1400's and closing China to the world, we'd all be speaking Chinese! Paul Chaisson uncovered an historic miracle of a magnitude yet to recognized on a strategic island off the East coast of Canada. Yes, he'll be chastised by the "experts" as Menzies has, but in the immortal words of Winston Churchill about truth; "...there it is." Great reading, hard to put down, well researched with what must be 30 pages of superb Notes and Bibliography! A must read for anyone intrested in the TRUE story of world history. I'm impressed! BTW: My daughter's courses in World History at the University of Southern California made Chinese history of world discovery as per Menzies' book required reading.
Book about Chinese exployers October 17, 2007
Bettyarnold (Long Beach, CA USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book received was consistent with what I ordered. It arrived in a timely manner.
A sleuthing turns up more than the researcher was looking for July 29, 2007
Stephen M. Garcia (near Chicago IL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have just finished this book, and I can say that it is excellent.
This is a book about a search that was a solution to one of the all-time mysteries of global exploration, dating back to the early 1400s, decades before Columbus. I actually knew something of this mystery before hearing about this book, but I bought it in regards to another mystery. Two mysteries came together and - well, read the book!
I was especially impressed with what the author did not try to do. He was looking for a solution to a riddle, and he looked under every likely stone, one after the other. Logically and methodically and thoroughly, he walks us through every option. As each one turned up nothing, he kept at it, until there were no more stones to turn over. He didn't try to push any pet solution(s) on the reader; he just kept eliminating possibilities, all the while thinking that the one he was looking at would be the one. And he thought of giving up altogether...
So, what happened when he ran out of answers? Serendipity stepped in...
In a true story, luck showed the way. And all the answers didn't come from him, not at all. But when the pieces fit, well, they just fit... And when they do, you have to recognize it.
The book left me with some unresolved questions, so I hope the author can move on and solve those for me, too. I want a sequel...
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