* ~5 s1 y; L3 c& F到底谁最先发现澳大利亚？历史学界展开新争论。) f" ?% a4 ]! w; q! T7 X6 ?
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地图解谜 . {9 M+ T+ Y% P2 `0 X' @; M " L7 r7 {9 ]8 ]5 Y6 D0 N! L身为历史学家和记者的特里克特在其新书《摩羯座之外》中提出，葡萄牙人先于库克船长250年到达澳大利亚。书中还描述了葡萄牙探险家是如何秘密发现澳大利亚，并绘制澳大利亚和新西兰地图的。 8 l+ ?: G1 O5 Y; _& C ; Y$ A D5 {; g2 x4 |: [特里克特是在对一组古地图进行研究后得出的上述结论。 7 U7 u2 S9 j1 D! P0 T9 w6 s8 q; J) o7 M; h0 F6 I9 c) f
特里克特8年前无意间获得一组由阿特拉斯出版的古地图绘本，其上绘制了16世纪早期已为世人所知晓的世界。这组地图由几位法国绘图师依据葡萄牙人绘制的航海图复制而成。# Y# u1 W& i, e) X; i7 e, j" s& ?$ x
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特里克特在研究中发现，其中一幅地图同澳大利亚东部昆士兰州的海岸线图十分相似。但这幅地图由中间某点起突然伸出一个直角，向外延伸大约900英里(约合1450公里)。6 J3 v7 z* q- C3 y
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通过对地图的仔细研究，特里克特提出，法国绘图师错误地将两幅葡萄牙航海图拼接到一起才造成这种结果。于是他把地图一分为二，将位于下方的一部分旋转90度，重新得到的地图同澳大利亚东海岸和南海岸地图几乎完全吻合。2 i) X0 `' D; H3 N7 _& \
4 P7 L6 W+ `) m提前到达: u% t' \ f0 w' c
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如果特里克特的发现被证明属实，将意味著葡萄牙人早在1522年就达到了大洋洲地区，并且绘制出澳大利亚和新西兰地图。这比库克船长18世纪后半期率「奋进」号航海探险时到达澳大利亚要早约250年。 6 Y4 t- [5 K7 P+ D2 }; g5 F, T) [- T. g8 e' C$ P6 m- h
「我知道这令人难以置信，因为这比莎士比亚出生的年代还要早几十年，」特里克特在接受美国广播公司采访时说，「但这些地图显示了整个澳大利亚东海岸和南海岸的大部分，一直延伸到坎加鲁岛。」 6 s$ N" ~; P J" p' Y h" r% X+ l* S4 ]
特里克特认为，这些航海图由葡萄牙航海家克里斯多夫•德•门东萨绘制。他接受秘密派遣，从葡萄牙当时位于麻六甲的军事据点出发，前去寻找马可•波罗笔下黄金遍布的神奇土地。门东萨到达过澳大利亚北海岸、东部沿海以及南部沿海地区。后来，他乘船经由新西兰的北岛返回麻六甲。. i3 H0 ^2 G8 g' ?+ a8 D
R- f2 _6 ~8 z- r藏匿地图! H( k; ]# m6 K8 i- a
2 J1 L) z2 @1 j: {+ e( l据特里克特分析，在门东萨发现澳大利亚后，葡萄牙人为保守这一秘密，将他所绘制的地图藏匿起来。3 h# ^& J3 N. `, P- J
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「葡萄牙人被这一秘密发现困扰，因为当时他们正与西班牙对抗，」特里克特说，「他们没有把澳大利亚变成殖民地，是因为他们缺乏人力和物资。此后不久他们的王国便开始瓦解。」4 _/ u: L. @' `) G
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特里克特认为，科学家于1976年在澳大利亚昆士兰州弗雷泽岛地区沙漠中出土的铅锤佐证了自己的发现。分析表明，这一铅锤来自葡萄牙或法国南部地区，大约制造于公元1500年。「这与地图告诉我们的相符合，」他说。 . W/ e2 |2 Q) f& F4 V4 a3 Q, B6 V0 W* d# j, Y
来源：新华网, Z/ l$ E8 m, Q4 ~6 H9 r5 S
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Captain Cook is scuppered by book ( r$ [1 I$ U! E- eThe image of Captain Cook stepping onto the shores of Botany Bay has been a staple of British history books for generations but now it seems the explorer may have been beaten to Australia by the Portuguese, who arrived 250 years earlier.( P/ N5 I: J5 p
( y8 |1 q7 d+ M5 B9 yA new appraisal of 16th century maps offers evidence that a small Portuguese fleet charted much of Australia's coast as early as 1522. * {* {( r1 F" v8 E# r) I# F* s* ?- @
It has long been known that Cook was preceded by Dutch navigators, whose ships were wrecked on the coast of western Australia as they made for their colony of Batavia - present day Jakarta - in the 1600s. * m! b/ A# Z- {) D- t# O 8 `' A# f/ o. D/ wThe Portuguese thesis was put forward yesterday by historian and journalist, Peter Trickett, in his book Beyond Capricorn. It describes how Portuguese adventurers secretly discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand 250 years before Captain Cook." O8 I) {) Z6 ?0 ?
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Eight years ago he stumbled on a portfolio of reproduced maps from the Vallard Atlas, a priceless collection of charts which represent the known world in the early 16th century.' G6 M' [0 s- _
, Q4 u* T/ G, E( t3 c! }) O- O1 A. AThe maps, now kept in a vault in the Huntington Library in California, were based on Portuguese charts but drawn up by French cartographers.# y/ N# V7 a# j, H9 M
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Modern scholars had noticed that one of them closely resembles the coastline of Queensland, aside from a point where it suddenly shoots out at a right angle for a distance of about 900 miles. ; ^7 [7 m% [! d& S* {) [! \* R- W1 h) G
After studying the map himself, Mr Trickett came up with a new theory - that the French map-makers had wrongly spliced together two of the Portuguese charts they were copying from. + B. ?# z( F- w5 K ' U. T/ H0 \7 h! C- eWith the help of a computer expert, he divided the map in two and rotated the lower half by 90 degrees. 2 H n9 n5 I. @- i* p u0 g( M7 V7 A7 c5 Z7 k
Suddenly the chart fitted almost exactly the east coast of Australia and the south coast as far as Kangaroo Island, off present day South Australia.* H; m+ D' i7 H% b
Z# @5 b, M7 u# U2 p"I know it s very hard to believe because this was taking place decades before the birth of William Shakespeare," he told ABC radio. * `* ]3 Z& n @0 F8 ?& |6 y( ~! I* b. z! I% T" ]9 E/ S3 p' ~( F2 B
"But the maps show the entire east coast of Australia, virtually the entire west coast and a very large part of the south coast, as far as Kangaroo Island and the Great Australian Bight, which the Portuguese called Golfo Grande." Mr Trickett believes the charts were made by a Portuguese seafarer, Christopher de Mendonca, who was sent from the Portuguese fort at Malacca, in present day Malaysia, to search for a fabled land of gold alluded to by Marco Polo. 8 S5 f/ o8 b" L' {0 \5 W9 N. P, B' z( `# u
His secret mission took him along Australia's north coast, down the eastern seaboard and around the bottom of the continent. He then sailed back to Malacca via the North Island of New Zealand.6 {7 _# [0 h0 Q: j. T! d
1 E3 q8 j. X$ c/ V! ]: G) L \! j% wThe maps were kept secret because the Portuguese wanted to keep the discovery to themselves.& H, t+ g. O& n" _: [* k: z5 F5 Y
4 n0 G6 S. G/ I8 {+ h1 e"The Portuguese were obsessed with secrecy because of their rivalry with Spain," Mr Trickett said. "They didn't colonise Australia because they didn't have the manpower or the resources, and then their empire started to collapse."+ b4 U$ p/ h* B2 |3 V% W% c
. {) O" u$ ^$ D7 |% _2 yHe believes his theory is backed up by the discovery in 1976 of a lead fishing sinker, unearthed by scientists from the sands of Fraser Island, off Queensland./ R; R# [0 p9 A
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An analysis of the lead showed that it came from Portugal or the south of France and was made around 1500. "It ties in with what the map tells us," he said. # ?8 B* k" L# r - c, s6 L0 X9 J/ ^6 n[ 本帖最后由 日月光 于 2007-3-25 11:15 编辑 ]
