Map Junkie

[aadroma]

Hey, I just thought this was cool.The link above is to a zoomable portion of the Kūnyú Quántú, 坤輿全圖 , a Chinese map produced in the 1600s. I just adore these things, and this combines my love of old maps and languages. Here not only do we get to see the concept of the world as it was known in the 1600's, but with known (and possibly imaginary!)

Comments

[tenderandtough]

That's pretty cool Roger.

[muckefuck]

Oh, how odd! All the transcriptions of European names are taken from Latin--like 昂利亞 Ánglìyà for England. I also wonder why they used 邏 in their transcription of "Europa" rather than the modern equivalent, 羅.

[bachelor_farmer]

Not so much the Central Kingdom anymore, huh?