Cartography of Asia
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Cartography of Asia.
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[edit] Antiquity
Babylon in Southwest Asia is at the center of the very earliest world maps, beginning with the Babylonian world map in the 6th century BC. In classical Greek geography, "Asia" is one of three major landmasses, besides Europe and Lybia. Asia is given higher resolution in Hellenistic geography, in particular on Ptolemy world map.
Chinese geography from the 2nd century BC (Han dynasty) becomes aware of Turkestan, where Hellenistic Greek and Han Chinese spheres of influence overlap.
[edit] Middle Ages
In medieval T and O maps, Asia makes for half the world's landmass, with Africa and Europe accounting for a quarter each. With the High Middle Ages, Southwest and Central Asia receive better resolution in Muslim geography, and the 11th century map by Mahmud al-Kashgari is the first world map drawn from a Central Asian point of view. In the same period, European explorers of the Silk road like William Rubruck and Marco Polo increase geographical knowledge of Asia in the west, in particular establishing that the Caspian Sea is not connected to the northern ocean.
Chinese exploration by medieval times extends Chinese geographical knowledge to the Indian ocean, the Arabian peninsula and East Africa as well as Southeast Asia.
[edit] Age of exploration
- Further information: Age of Discovery
European maps of Asia become much more detailed from the 15th century, the 1459 Fra Mauro map showing a reasonable complete picture, including correctly placed Korea and Japan.
[edit] Modern maps
[edit] Literature
- Harley and Woodward (eds.), The History of Cartography. Vol. 2. bk 2, Cartography in Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies, University of Chicago Press (1994), ISBN 978-0226316376.
- Kenneth Nebenzahl, Mapping the Silk Road and Beyond, ISBN 0714844098.
[edit] See also
- Geography of Asia
- Muslim geography
- Chinese geography
- Chinese exploration
- Cartography of India
- History of cartography
- History of geography
[edit] External links
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