For long-time readers of this site, you have probably heard of the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤輿萬國全圖/ 坤舆万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World. You probably also know that it was published by Matteo Ricci in 1602 in China and that Dr Cheng-Wei Wang disagrees with the consensus this map is derived from European sources. Well, yet again, Dr Wang has found more exciting new information that demonstrates her stance.
Except this time, Dr Wang takes us on a field trip to ancient Japan. That is right: For as isolated as Japan is portrayed in popular media and history, the opposite seems to be true. And our proof comes once more from Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤輿萬國全圖/ 坤舆万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World.
The full text is going to be included in a forthcoming book entitled Chinese explored Asia long before the Europeans, An Ancient World Map Tells All (World Scientific, 2025).
Dr Wang and her team invite you to view a sneak peek at her up-coming work:
Abstract
This paper reports that an ancient world map ‒ Kunyu Wanguo Quantu《坤輿萬國全圖/ 坤舆万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World published by Matteo Ricci in 1602 in China ‒ depicts Japan in 897 A.D. of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, almost 650 years before the first Europeans visited Japan. A detailed analysis of all the geographical items depicted on the Japan portion of this map and Japan’s surrounding islands and seas shows that this portion of the map is of Chinese origin, instead of a direct or adapted copy of the major European maps in the sixteenth century.
Keywords: China, Europeans, Japan, Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, Matteo Ricci, Tang Dynasty
- Determining the Origin and Era of Asia as Depicted to the North of China on the First Chinese World Map
- The Zheng He Cultural and Art Festival and the Maritime Silk Road Expo
- An Ancient World Map Depicts West and Central Asia in 1433
- Where are Shui Chao Feng 水潮峰 and Snow Mountain 雪山, cited on the first Chinese world map?
- 5 June 2024 Royal Geographical Society (Hong Kong)
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