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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Parts 1 and 2 of this series covered how former Marquette educator Fred Rydholm came up with his theories as to the likely identity of the ancient copper miners and why I have been a disciple of this train of thought (a \u2018Rydholmite\u2019 if you will humor me here) since the early 1980s. \u00a0Even before Fred passed away in 2009, I found myself reading more and more material about the peopling of the Americas hoping that someone would find the Rosetta Stone needed to help prove Fred\u2019s theories. When I stumbled upon the work of retired Royale Navy navigator Gavin Menzies in 2010, I could feel the shudder of revulsion that he had caused in the \u201cNorth American History began with Christopher Columbus\u201d camp. \u00a0One of my first thoughts was, \u201cI hope Fred read this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first bubble that Menzie set out to burst was the long held theory that the indigenous people living in North America at the time the Europeans arrived had migrated across the land bridge that connected Asia to North American at the end of the last ice age. \u00a0The 2000 mile trek across a vast expanse of newly opened (read: barren) landscape would be difficult to do with today\u2019s technology. The various indigenous groups scattered from the Arctic Circle in the north to the southern tip of South America could have crossed this newly opened landscape. \u00a0They could have spread into the Americas in the ten to twenty thousand year window of opportunity that the retreating ice sheet and rising ocean levels provided. They just would not have been able to spread that far and multiply that fast with the land bridge as their only highway from the west. \u00a0Menzies concluded that there had to be a migration and spread of people by water that began much earlier than the Bering Sea land bridge. To prove his theory, he looked at crops, domesticated animals, parasites, and DNA profiles around the world. What he found is hard to argue with.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Corn is a good starting place. \u00a0Corn was developed in Mexico and Central America and by selectively breeding certain species of this grass, ancient people were able to produce larger seeds. \u00a0These seeds were to become a staple of agriculture, but how does one explain the presence of corn in Europe before Columbus set sail? Corn does not swim and the seeds would not survive a long float on a salty sea. \u00a0Corn would not sail to Europe on favorable winds. The only way for corn to migrate from its place of origin in the Americas to Europe is to have it carried there by people. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Asiatic chickens were in South America to greet the Conquistadors. \u00a0Wild Mongolian horses ran wild in parts of Oregon into the 1940s and the horses used by the Nez Perce in the Pacific Northwest bear a strong resemblance to the \u201cheavenly horses\u201d from China. \u00a0The Nez Perce horses were stocky, short-legged, had thick necks and large heads, were sure footed and known for their speed and endurance, just like the Chinese horses.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Peaches, Chinese roses, hibiscus, Monterey pines, and Torrey pines grow up and down the western coast of North America. \u00a0They are all indigenous species from China and like the non-swimming, non-flying corn, could not have traveled to this continent without the intervention of people. \u00a0Even the parasitic hookworm common now on both sides of the Pacific Ocean could not have traveled here with people across the land bridge. Part of the hookworm\u2019s life cycle requires it to spend part of its life cycle in \u00a0a warm climate and unfrozen soil to spread. It simply could not have survived a long trek across the northern routes and had to have been transported to the Americas by people traveling by water.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once Menzies began looking at the DNA database, it became clear that there was a large Chinese presence in the Americas long before the Europeans arrived. \u00a0In an area that extends from central Mexico to Ecuador (an area larger than Western Europe) 96.5% of the population have Asian DNA haplotypes. If one looks at the physical features of those same people, it is impossible to ignore the Asian influence. \u00a0Side by side comparisons of art, astronomy, city planning, pyramid building, and architecture show that many of the indigenous cultures in this same area mirror their Chinese counterparts. The spread of culture from the west to the east is much easier to establish when the records of the invading Europeans are studied: \u00a0the Europeans themselves noted the Asian similarities in these populations.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his book <\/span>1421: The Year China Discovered America, <\/span><\/i>Menzies summarizes data that shows the existence of extensive Chinese exploration. \u00a0He continues this thread in his second book <\/span>1434: \u00a0The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>His third volume <\/span>The Lost Empire of Atlantis: \u00a0History\u2019s Greatest Mystery Revealed<\/span><\/i> is the volume I believe Fred Rydholm would have found the most interesting as Menzies makes a case for the Minoan Culture of the Mediterranean Sea being the likely seafarers who traveled to North America in search of copper. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n