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An Ancient World Map Shows Chinese Exploration of Southeast Asia in 1432‒1433 long before the Europeans

Dr Wang continues the search for evidence that 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 is based on Chinese sources. Here she finds evidence showing that the map of Mainland Southeast Asia was derived not from European sources but from Chinese information. Furthermore, it appears that the mariners of the famous Ming Treasure fleets most likely contributed to this part of the map during their seventh (the last) voyage to the Western Ocean. We hope you enjoy the abstract of this chapter.

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).

Abstract

The 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 was published in China by Italian missionary Matteo Ricci in 1602.

    However, in this chapter, I will show that the part of Kunyu Wanguo Quantu showing Mainland Southeast Asia and the islands surrounding it (excluding islands in Oceania), abbreviated as Southeast Asia-KWQ, is of Chinese origin, not a copy or adapted copy of the major sixteenth-century European maps. This finding is obtained after analysing the geographical information and histories of the 60 written items and eleven related annotations on the map.

    Moreover, historical records show that the Ming Treasure Fleets visited Southeast Asia, both when outbound in 1432 and when inbound in 1433, during their seventh (and last) voyage to the Western Ocean. Hence, the Ming mariners most likely obtained their latest geographical data of the region in the period 1432‒1433; hence, the political era revealed by the Southeast Asia-KWQ should also be in the period 1432‒1433. This era falls within the period 1428–1470 which is the political era deduced directly from the analysis of the Southeast Asia-KWQ. The period 1432‒1433 is long before the arrival of the European explorers and colonisers in this region.

Keywords: China, Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, Matteo Ricci, Southeast Asia, Treasure Fleet

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