Greetings and welcome to the April 2012 newsletter! We are sorry about the delay in sending this newsletter out to you. As always, we have been snowed under with work in UK, coupled with speaking engagements for Gavin and Ian, a symposium in London, and filming for a TV documentary.

On 15th April we held an event at the Royal Geographical Society, London, on the eve of the London Book Fair. The event was well subscribed, and there were some fascinating talks given on the subject of pre-Columbian voyages to the New World.

Phoenix Television filmed the event for a news story which can be viewed at the following link:

http://v.ifeng.com/news/world/201204/40553661-06e7-48ce-a9cf-b6ee3d6ab0ec.shtml

Phoenix also interviewed the speakers for a TV documentary which they are producing, which will mark ten years since '1421' was first published in 2002!

We are most grateful to Phoenix for their support over the years, and look forward to their new documentary!

Gavin and Ian are now busily working on a new joint book project, details of which will be revealed shortly.

Dr. Siu-Leung Lee
We are pleased to announce the launch of Dr S. L. Lee's book, "The secret of Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (1602 map attributed to Ricci) revealed - Ming Chinese mapped the world before Columbus". His book has been published in Chinese by Linking Publishing Co (Taipei), and is distributed also in Shanghai by Jifeng Bookstore.

You can find more information at the following link: http://www.linkingbooks.com.tw/pro/161171.asp

Dr. Lee says: "... With the 1602 map and cultural evidence, it is irrefutable that Ming Chinese landed in America, and mapped the continent... Again, I am challenging geographers, cartographers, and historians to debate the issues openly and live in front of the world's media..." 

We are currently working on plans for a televised debate which will concern whether Ricci used Chinese or European sources to draw his map. Please watch this space!

Below are links to some interesting stories which we thought you might like:

Radical theory of first Americans places Stone Age Europeans in Delmarva 20,000 years ago. Read more here    

A video showing Lynda Nutter's research into a possible Ancient Chinese Observatory in Perth. Western Australia, can be viewed here 

Seabed with 13th century Mongol shipwreck may become historic site. Read more here

Pirates of the Marine Silk Road. Read more here

Armed with high-tech methods, researchers are scouring the Aegean Sea for the world's oldest shipwrecks. Read more here

After ten years of hard graft, Gavin is tired and has decided to take more of a back seat in the running of the website and the team. So, for the foreseeable future, there will be a depleted team answering your emails. Email correspondence with our subscribers is enormously rewarding. However, it is a huge undertaking to reply to each and every one of you, as we have always strived to do. Therefore, we appreciate your patience if replies to your emails are not immediate.

We are thinking of ways to expand the team globally, to help relieve the considerable pressure on the UK team. If any of you have any ideas about this please let us know!

Best wishes,
Gavin, Ian and the team