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Originally posted by silent thunder
Although this is a very cool idea, I'm suspicious of the map in the original post. The calligraphic style of the Chinese characters does not seem very old to me (anyone here know Chinese who can back me up on this?).
Although I could be mistaken, the original map looks like it was drawn sometime in the modern or early-modern period, well after the existence of the Americas would be known throughout East Asia. The calligraphic font, as well as things like the square boxes around the characters, etc. point to a non-Ancient origin. It also uses some modern characters... for example, it calls Japan "日本”, which is not a truly ancient Chinese designation for those islands. The Chinese used the character "倭" for Japan long before "日本" came into use, and long after the Shang dynasty. That's just one example. The details on Africa and Europe also suggest a much more recent understanding.
The map also appears remarkably well-preserved, and the quality of paper/printing seems to suggest its not more than a few centuries old at the oldest.
[edit on 1/28/10 by silent thunder]
Originally posted by kagegyou
I've tried to search for some details of the map.
The map being shown at that website is most probably a replica of a map made by the North Koreans (the Joseon Dynasty).
It was based on Giulio Aleni's Complete map of all the countries (萬國全圖) in the 17th Century. At that time, China is in the era of Ming Dynasty, a lot later than Shang Dynasty.
source:
zh.wikipedia.org...
big5.lrn.cn...
(both in Chinese)
As for the usage of 倭, Japan started being referred to as "日本国" during the time when Wu Zetian(武則天) ruled, in the era of Tang Dynasty, at around 618-907AD.
Since the map is created at a much later date, that is why Japan is shown as "日本国" on it.
Apart from these, the eleventh emperor of the Shang Dynasty should be "Zhong Ding" (仲丁) but not shandu.
I've spent a lot of time reading different sorts of things but just can't figure out who shandu is or what shandu is. It will be a lot better if the original text in Chinese could be found.
Originally posted by bigspud
it means there are no native americans.
Originally posted by silent thunder
Very nice answer, thanks. You confirmed my suspicions.
Another thing I noticed later...overlyaing some parts, the map has a very precise, squared, grid-like background eminating from and terminating in the polar regions. I've never seen anything like that on truly ancient maps, either Eastern or Western.
Thanks again for the good info.
[edit on 1/31/10 by silent thunder]