The ''Shanhai Yudi Quantu'' (, "Complete Terrestrial Map") is a

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

Chinese map published in 1609 in the ''

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of Reference work, reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia", although the ''leishu'' are quite different from the modern notion ...

'' encyclopedia ''

Sancai Tuhui ''Sancai Tuhui'' (, ), compiled by Wang Qi () and his son Wang Siyi (), is a Chinese '' leishu'' encyclopedia, completed in 1607 and published in 1609 during the late Ming dynasty, featuring illustrations of subjects in the three worlds of heave ...

''.

Influences

The Shanhai Yudi Quantu is known to have been highly influenced by the Jesuit missions in China, starting with the work of

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci (; ; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610) was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See decl ...

. Matteo Ricci himself had two of his own maps entitled ''Shanhai Yudi Quantu'': one engraved by Wu Zhongming (, ''Wú Zhōngmíng'') and dated 1600 and another engraved by Guo Zizhang (, ''Gūo Zĭzhāng'') and dated 1604.

Description

Asia

The Asian continent is marked phonetically 亞細亞 ( Modern Pinyin ''Yàxìyà'',

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

''Aseja''). This is the area of the map where most information can be found, and has been subdivided here by regions:

East Asia

Numerous areas and islands are named in this part of the world: * The Great Ming Empire (, ''Dà Míngguó'') *

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(, ''Rìběn'') * Goryeo Korea (, ''Gāolì'') * The Jurchen

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

ns (, ''Rǚzhí'') * "Five Cities" near

Sungari The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea border through China's northea ...

(, ''Wǔ Chéng'') *

Liaodong The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...

(, ''Liáodōng'') * Daning, a military region (, ''Dà Níng'') *

Tartary Tartary (Latin: ''Tartaria''; ; ; ) or Tatary () was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Ural Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the northern borders of China, ...

, north of Liaodong (, ''Dádá'') * "Dogland", a land of dog-headed men in eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

(, ''Gǒugúo'') * "Coral Tree Island" (, ''Shānhúshù Dǎo'') *

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

(, ''Liúqiú'') *

(, ''Běijíjiè'', lit. "Arctic Region") The seas beside East Asia are the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

(, lit. "Great Ming Sea") and the "Lesser Eastern Ocean" (, ''Xiǎo Dōng Yáng''). To the north is the "Ice Sea" (, ''Bīng Hǎi'').

West Asia

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

(, lit. "The Sandy Wastes", which has become the Chinese word for "Desert") *

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

Tibetans Tibetans () are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live in t ...

(, ''Xī Fān'', lit. "The Western Barbarians") *

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

(, ''Huíhuí'') *

Western Regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in Ancient Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of the Yumen Pass, most often the Tarim Basin in prese ...

(, ''Xīyù'') *

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

(, ''Xīngsù Hǎi'', lit. "Starry Sea" or , ''Běi Gāo Hǎi'', lit. "Northern High Sea") * The Kunlun Range (, ''Kūnlún'')

South Asia

* Annam in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

(, lit. "The Pacified South") *

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

(, ''Zhànchéng'') *

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

(, ''Hǎinán'') *

Srivijaya Srivijaya (), also spelled Sri Vijaya, was a Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important ...

(, Modern Pinyin ''Sānfóqí'', Middle Chinese ''Sambiutjay'') *

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(, ''Yīngdìyà'') * Western India (, ''Xī Tiānzhú'') Two seas are shown: the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

(, ''Pánggélà Hǎi'') and "Lesser Western Ocean" (, ''Xiǎo Xī Yáng'').

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

is shown in two pieces Major (, ''Dà Zhǎowā'') and Minor (, ''Xiǎo Zhǎowā'') far into the "Southwest" () and "Southern" () Seas near the Antarctic.

Europe

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

is marked phonetically as (Modern Pinyin ''Ōuluóbā'', Middle Chinese ''Oulapa''). *

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(, ''Fólǎngchá'') * "More than thirty countries" (, ''sānshí yú gúo'') *

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

(, ''Wòlándìyà'' from Latin 'Groenlandia') Europe is surrounded by the "Greater Western Ocean" (, ''Dà Xī Yáng'', a body of water formerly located east of Rome and conflated with the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

but now appropriately placed in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

), the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

(, ''Dìzhōng Hǎi''), and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

(, ''Tài Hǎi'', lit. "Great Sea").

North America

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

is marked as "" (Modern Pinyin ''Běi Yàmèilìjiā'', Middle Chinese ''Pok Amoklika''). The only location is marked phonetically and is unknown: * "Angwayma" (, ''Yàwàimā'') Another two unknown locations are on an island to America's northeast, possibly the inhabited southwest coast of Greenland: * "Cold River" (, ''Hán Hé'') * "Fragrant Peak" (, ''Xiāngfēng'') The

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

is marked as the "Eastern Red Sea" (, ''Dōng Hóng Hǎi'') and the "Ice Sea" continues across the north.

South America

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

is marked as "" (Modern Pinyin ''Nán Yàmèilìjiā'', Middle Chinese ''Nom Amoklika''). * " Land of the Cannibals" (, ''Shírén Guó'') *

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

(, ''Yín Hé'') Surrounding it are the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

(marked as "

Oceano Oceano (Spanish: ''Océano'', meaning "Ocean") is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. The population was 7,183 at the 2020 census, down from 7,286 at the 2010 census. Geography Oceano is locat ...

" , ''Hézhéyànuò Cāng'') to the northeast, the "Sea of Peru" (, ''Bólù Hǎi'') to the west, and the "Greater Eastern Ocean" (, ''Dà Dōng Yáng'').

Libya

Following

classical geography ;Pre-Hellenistic Classical Greece *Homer *Anaximander (died ) *Hecataeus of Miletus (died ) * Massaliote Periplus (6th century BC) * Scylax of Caryanda (6th century BC) *Herodotus (died ) ;Hellenistic period *Pytheas (died ) *'' Periplus of Pseu ...

, the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

is marked phonetically as "

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

" (, ''Lìwèiyà''). *

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

(described as , ''Tiānxià cǐ shān zhìgāo'', "The highest mountain under Heaven") Africa is surrounded by several seas. From the north, clockwise: the

; the "Lesser Western Ocean" (, ''Xiǎo Xī Yáng'') in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

and

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

; the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, called the "Western Red Sea" (, ''Xī Hóng Hǎi'') to distinguish it from the

); the western

, called the "Arabian Sea" (, Modern Pinyin ''Yàlàpí Hǎi'', Middle Chinese ''Alapbie Hoy''); the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

, called the "Libyan Sea" (, ''Lìwèiyà Hǎi''); and the Atlantic Ocean (again marked as "

" , ''Hézhéyànuò Cāng'').

Magallania

The still-uncertain

Terra Australis (Latin for ) was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that continental l ...

today

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and other islands is marked phonetically as (Modern Pinyin ''Mèiwǎlàníjiā'', Middle Chinese ''Mokngwalapneka''). This transliterates the name "

Magallanica (Latin language, Latin for ) was a hypothetical continent first posited in Classical antiquity, antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but r ...

", a name given to the prospective continent at the time in honor of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

, who had crossed past

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

and shown the southern continent (hypothesized since

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

) to be separate from South America. The map notes how little is known about this continent "Few have reached these southern regions. Things are not explored yet" () but also includes more placenames in it than in Africa, America, or Europe: * "White Peak" (, ''Bái Fēng'') * "Great River" (, ''Dà Jiāng'') *

(, ''Huǒdì'' lit. "Place of Fire") *

(, ''Nánjíjiè'', lit. "Antarctic Region") *

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

(, ''Xīn Rùnì'') * "Place of Parrots" (, generally taken as

from a later name but originally referring to a location south of Africa, possibly

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

)

Legacy

A large number of maps were derived from the ''Shanhai Yudi Quantu'', many of them are found today in Japanese and Korean archives, but their history is generally difficult to reconstruct.Ptak, p.2

References

{{Chinese maps 17th century in China 17th-century maps and globes Historic maps of the world