Publisher‏: World Scientific Publishing Company (September 28, 2025)

Language‏:  English

Hardcover: ‏584 pages

ISBN-10‏: ‎ ‎ 9819810965

ISBN-13‏: ‎ ‎ 978-9819810963

Chinese Explored Asia Long Before the Europeans: An Ancient World Map Tells All is the fruit of the author’s research into the history of exploration prior to the European Age of Discovery. This book analyses thoroughly the Asian regions of an important ancient world map: Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (KWQ) (坤舆万国全图), translated as “Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World”. The map was published in 1602 by Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci in China. For over 400 years, the map has been regarded as strictly of European origin and based on maps which Ricci brought with him to China in 1582 during the Ming Dynasty.

However, after analysing the histories of all the geographical terms associated with Asia on the KWQ, this book presents multilayer evidence that the Asian regions on this map are of Chinese origin and that they reveal eras long before the arrival of Europeans: Japan in 897, Joseon in 1433, Ming China in 1433, Southeast Asia in 1432–1433, the Indian Subcontinent and its eastern periphery in 1432–1433, West and Central Asia in 1433, and Asia to the North of China in 1428–1433.

The present book, and the author’s previous book titled Chinese Global Exploration in the Pre-Columbian Era: Evidence from an Ancient World Map, can serve as a foundation for future China studies and offer new insights into the world history of land and maritime exploration.

Contents:

u About the Author

u Acknowledgement

u Introduction

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of Japan in 897 AD, Long Before the First Europeans Landed in That Region in 1542/1543

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of Korea in 1433, Long Before the First European Man Landed There in 1582

u An Ancient World Map Depicts China in 1433, at the Early Stage of the European Age of Discovery

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of Southeast Asia in 1432–1433, Long Before the First Europeans Began to Conquer That Region in 1511

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of the Indian Subcontinent and Its Eastern Periphery in 1432–1433, Long Before Vasco da Gama Landed in India in 1498

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of West and Central Asia in 1433

u An Ancient World Map Depicts Chinese Exploration of Asia to the North of China in 1428–1433, Long Before the First Europeans Explored Those Regions

u Index

Readership: Historians, map collectors, archaeologists, geologists, teachers, students, researchers, geopoliticians and others interested in the Chinese exploration of Asia before the Age of Discovery.

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