March 29, 2007

Digitised version of Matteo Ricci's 1602 map of the world. Via
posted by Abiezer_Coppe 17 years ago
  • Great stuff. The Kano collection (13,700 images!) also looks amazing - if only it were easier to find your way around.
  • Oh, wow. Thanks, Abiezer!
  • Magnificent. Thanks.
  • Excellent.
  • Map pr0n! Yes! Thanks for the post, AC. *fiddles with protractor*
  • Did anyone see the 1421: The Year China Discovered the World show? Interesting stuff at least. And thanks AC, great map!
  • That's got the China scholars in a right froth Pete.
  • Interesting, pete, yes, but far from convincing. One assumption after another. I can't remember the details, but it struck me as being very shoddy science and history. As fascinating as the conclusion may be, it just wasn't supported.I was yelling at the tv just as much as when Powell was giving his presentation to the UN...
  • He came to speak in Beijing, and a friend of a friend apparently gave him quite a haranguing from the floor about various glaring anachronisms in his map
  • In particular I thought the idea that the Bimini Road was a boat ramp was interesting, and that some of the strange fish-shaped sand pits in the Caribbean were places where ships were buried
  • Oooh neat. Apparently there were several maps. One that is now in Nanjing came to the US and I saw it at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana. I went to a Jesuit high school so I knew about Ricci, was very very excited to see one of his maps in person.
  • Yet more evidence of the seriousness of global warming. Look at how big Antarctica used to be.
  • Good point, bernockle. Australia is still attached, too, which proves that Chinese civilization is at least 110 million years old. So the whole dragon thing is obvious. *REUNITE GONDWANALAND!*
  • > Did anyone see the 1421: The Year China Discovered the World show? I read the book a year or two ago. I liked it and thought its evidence in some places persuasive and in others at least worthy of further study. The recent Portuguese map is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of Cook's discovery.