TITLE: Yoktae chewang honil kangnido
, or The "Kangnido"
[Map of Historical Emperors and Kings and of Integrated Borders and Terrain] DATE:1402
AUTHORS: Ch'üan Chin and Li Hui
DESCRIPTION: Although few ancient Chinese maps are extant, it is evident
from various descriptions in early geographical literature and Korean copies
and imitations of old Chinese maps that the Terrestrial Continent
was centered around China, encircled by a large ring of water quite similar
to Homer's Oceanus, and further enclosed by an imaginary outer continent
(for examples see Slides #105, 254, 255,
256). With the opening of the overland route to Western
Asia during the Han Dynasty (207 B.C. to 200 A.D.), the western sector of
the Continent began to bear such names as K'ang-chü [Sogdiana],
Ta-wan [Ferghana], Ta Ju-chih [Oxus Valley], An-shih
[Parthia] and Ta Ch'in [the Roman Orient]. However, by the middle
of the 8th century the overland route across Central Asia had become paralyzed,
and China was compelled to reorient herself to the warm seas and thus embarked
on nearly seven centuries of commercial relations with the Near East. One
notable consequence of this 700-year contact was the stretching of the world
in Chinese maps farther westward and southwestward, and the appearance of
an ever increasing number of Arabic place-names. While the Terrestrial
Continent remained intact until the Jesuit era in Chinese cartography
(with Fr. Matteo Ricci, late 15th century), it is clearly evident that by
the middle of the 15th century, China's own centrality in her concept of
the world had been substantially reduced.
TheYoktae chewang honil kangnido [Map of historical emperors and
kings and of integrated borders and terrain] (also known as the Honil
kangni yoktae kukto chi to [Map of integrated regions and terrains and
of historical countries and capitals], hereafter referred to as the Kangnido
), was completed in 1402. It easily predates any world map known from
either China or Japan and is therefore the oldest such work surviving in
the East Asian cartographical tradition, and the only one prior to the Ricci
world maps of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Although it is no
longer preserved in Korea itself, there are three versions in Japan; of
these the copy in the Ryukoku University Library (Kyoto) is acknowledged
to be the earliest, and in the best condition. The principal distinguishing
characteristics of the Ryukoku copy are its generally excellent condition
and its preservation of the original Ch'üan Chin preface. Painted on
silk and still preserving its colors well, it is a very large map, nearly
square at 171 x 164 cm (5 x 4 ft). It was first brought to scholarly notice
by the Japanese historical geographer Ogawa Takuji, in 1928.
According to the preface found in Chin's Yangch'on chip, the map
is a synthesis of two earlier Chinese maps, an early 14th century map by
Li Tse-min and another map from the late 14th century by Ch'ing Chün,
both maps now lost however. Li Tse-min, of whom we know nothing save that
he flourished around 1330, produced a Shêng-chiao kuang-pei t'u
[Map for the Diffusion of Instruction]. The map by the Tiantai monk Ch'ing
Chün (1328-1392) must have been made some forty or fifty years later;
it was called Hun-i chiang-li t'u [Map of the Territories of the
One World]. Both of these maps made their way to Korea in 1399 through the
agency of the Korean ambassador, Chin Shih-Heng (1341-1407), and were combined
in 1402 by Li Hui and Ch'üan.
The place to begin discussion of this very unusual map is with its preface,
the crucial part of which is translated here from the text on the Ryukoku
copy, with reference to the closely similar version in Ch'üan Chin's
collected works, the Yangch'on chip.
The world is very wide. We do not know how many tens of millions of li there
are from China in the center to the four seas at the outer limits, but in
compressing and mapping it on a folio sheet several feet in size, it is
indeed difficult to achieve precision; that is why [the results of] the
mapmakers have generally been either too diffuse or too abbreviated. But
the Shêng chiao kuang pei t'u [Map of the Vast Reach of [Civilization's]
Resounding Teaching], of Li Tse-min of Wumen, is both detailed and comprehensive;
while for the succession of emperors and kings and of countries and capitals
across time, the Hun-i chiang-li t'u [Map of Integrated Regions and
Terrains], by the Tiantai monk Ch'ing Chün, is thorough and complete.
In the 4th year of the Jianwen era (1402), Left Minister Chin [Shih-Heng]
of Sangju, and Right Minister Yi [Mu] of Tanyang, during moments of rest
from their governing duties, made a comparative study of these maps and
ordered Li Hui, an orderly, to collate them carefully and then combine them
into a single map. Insofar as the area east of the Liao River and our own
country's territory were concerned, Tse-min's map had many gaps and omissions,
so Li Hui supplemented and expanded the map of our country, and added a
map of Japan, making it a new map entirely, nicely organized and well worth
admiration. One can indeed know the world without going out of his door!
By looking at maps one can know terrestrial distances and get help in the
work of government. The care and concern expended on this map by our two
gentlemen can be grasped just by the size of its scale and dimension....
Ch'üan's own role was probably important, even though he insists that
he only stood in the background and "enjoyably watched the making of
the map." But he was being modest and tactful, since he was younger
in age and junior in rank to the two ministers. But the real cartographer,
even though Ch'üan minimizes his role, was Li Hui, whose entire career
was in rather low-ranking but often special positions. His map of Korea,
which was separately known, was almost certainly the basis for the Korean
part of the world map. Judging by Ch'üan's description of the monk
Ch'ing Chün's Hun-i chiang-li t'u , it was probably an ordinary
historical map of China, compiled in the late 14th century. Ch'ing Chün
(1328-1392) was a close advisor to the Hongwu emperor (r.1368-1398), who
was the founder of the Ming dynasty and himself an erstwhile monk. Apart
from its use as a source for the Kangnido, nothing is known of Ch'ing
Chün's map. Its chief contribution to the latter is believed to have
been the Chinese historical dimension, the indication of the areas and capitals
of the earlier dynasties, which was accomplished by a combination of textual
notes and cartographic devices. Other than that, the main feature that stuck
on the Korean map was probably its name: it reads Honil Kangnido
in Sino-Korean.
The international dimension of the Kangnido unquestionably came from
Li Tse-min's Shêng chiao kuang pei t'u. Li is mentioned by
the Ming cartographer Lo Hung-Hsien (1504-64) as a contemporary and possibly
as an associate of Chu Ssu-Pên. Aoyama's careful study of the Chinese
place-names on the Kangnido shows them in general accord with those
on Chu's map, as preserved in Lo's Kuang yu t'u, but with variants
that would indicate place-name changes made in 1328-1329; this suggests
that the Kangnido's source map was made around 1330. Since Chu explicitly
excluded most non-Chinese areas from his map. Aoyama and others have reasoned
that Li Tse-min must have found his cartographic sources for these areas
elsewhere, the only plausible source being Islamic maps, which made their
appearance in China under Mongol rule. Lo Hung-Hsien's probable use of the
Shêng chiao kuang pei t'u. is deduced from his maps of the
southeast and southwest maritime regions; and it could well be from the
Shêng chiao kuang pei t'u that the Da Ming hunyi t'u
[Integrated map of Great Ming] in the Palace Museum in Beijing, derives.
But for the missing or incomplete detail in the eastern areas of Manchuria,
Korea, and Japan, that map bears a very close resemblance to the Kangnido.
Takahashi Tadashi has shown that the Kangnido's Chinese transcriptions
of place-names in southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe come from Persianized
Arabic originals. While some of Takahashi's matches do not command credence
in early-modern Chinese phonological terms, he generally makes a convincing
case. One of the more interesting correspondences is the name placed by
the mountains near the Ptolemaic twin lakes that are the source of the Nile.
Though not on the Ryukoku copy of the Kangnido, the Tenri University
copy shows the Chinese transcription Zhebulu hama, which Takahashi
identifies with Persianized Arabic Djebel alqamar, "Mountains
of the Moon.'' All in all there are about thirty-five names indicated on
or near the African continent, most of them in the Mediterranean area.
The European part of the map, which is said to contain some 100 names, has
not yet been the object of an individual study, and no details of this section
of the Kangnido seem to have been published. The Mediterranean is
clearly recognizable, as are the Iberian and Italian peninsulas and the
Adriatic, but until the place-names can be read and interpreted it will
be impossible to come to any firm understanding of it.
Ch'üan Chin observed in his preface that the Kuang yu t'u had
only sketchy treatment of the area east of the Liao River and of Korea.
His language suggests that some image of Korea, however deficient, was on
the original Kuang yu t'u and that this was supplemented or replaced
by Li Hui. Li is known to have produced a map of Korea, called the P'altodo,
or "Map of the Eight Provinces,'' and it was probably a version of
this that appears today on the Kangnido. It is only through the Kangnido
that that map is known today.
The last major element of the map to be supplied, as far as the Koreans
were concerned, was Japan. At this particular moment in time, Korea's relations
with the Japanese were very difficult owing to the continuing problem of
Japanese marauders, who were beyond the ability of the Ashikaga shogunate
to control. Diplomatic initiatives were in progress, and coastal defenses
and strategies were undergoing constant development. All this was backed
by a general Korean effort to improve the government's knowledge of Japan,
and this involved maps in particular. Pak Tonji, a military man and diplomatic
specialist in Japanese affairs, made at least two trips to Japan, one in
1398-99, the other in 1401, and the second visit resulted in a map. A later
report quoted his statement that in 1402 he had been given a map by the
"Bishu no kami, Minamoto Mitsusuke." He says: "It
was very detailed and complete. The entire land area was on it, all but
the islands of Iki and Tsushima, sol added them and doubled the scale."
In 1420, this report states, he formally presented this map to the Board
of Rites, which was the branch of the Choson [Korean] government
that handled foreign affairs.
It is generally assumed by Korean cartographical specialists that this map,
brought back in 1401, was the basis for the representation of Japan on the
Kangnido. As maps of Japan go in this period, the outline on this
one is unusually good: the positioning of Kyushu with respect to Honshu
is quite accurate, and the bend north of the Kanto area is indicated better
than on many of the Gyoki - style maps then current. But for the
joining of Shikoku to Honshu, the three main islands (adding Kyushu; Hokkaido,
of course, not included at that time) make a very decent appearance. But
this splendid effort seems to be vitiated by orienting the Japanese portion
so that west is at the top. Worse, the whole ensemble is positioned far
to the south, so that the first impression of a modern observer is that
the Philippines, not Japan, is under view. A possible explanation for this
is that the cartographers had run out of space on the right (east) edge
of the Kangnido, and so had to place Japan in the open sea to the
south. But since Japan had always appeared east of southern China on Chinese
maps, there was some earlier cartographic basis for its placement there.
As for the west-at-the-top orientation, it is possible that this was the
original orientation of the map Pak Tonji received from Minamoto Mitsusuke;
indeed the earliest known map of Japan (805 A.D.) has this orientation.
Interestingly, the Korean makers of the Tenri and Honmyo-ji copies corrected
the orientation to the north, even while substituting more conventional
Gyoki-style outlines.
The northeastern coast of Africa, as well as Arabia, Asia Minor and the
Mediterranean Sea with Italy and Spain were, as a whole, known to the Chinese
from the 12th century, either by description, or, in the case of the African
and Arabian coasts, from their own experience. But there exists no Chinese
cartographic material from this time that covers Africa or Europe, and if
there actually had been any, it obviously must have been based upon alien
sources, i.e., Arabic-Persian maps. As a matter of fact, the first terrestrial
globe ever manufactured in China (1267) owes its existence to the Arabic
scholar Djamal-ud-Din. The same holds good for the western half of one of
the previously mentioned sources, Li Tse-min's map of ca. 1325/30. It too
must go back to an Islamic prototype which, like the globe, belonged to
the later 13th century. This being the case, the picture of Africa as given
on the lower left of the reproduction is of particular interest.
Prior to the Age of Great Discoveries, the African world below the
Sahara, by all indications, was essentially an enigma to geographers in
Europe. Aside from the effect of the inhospitable barriers surrounding the
region, two great retarding factors which hindered the Europeans from crossing
the immense waste, or from sailing into the tropical waters, was their belief
in the Ocean of Darkness [Atlantic] and the fear of extreme heat
on land and in the water further south. In spite of the dangers, real and
imagined, adventurers from the Greco-Roman days down to the time of Henry
the Navigator persisted in probing the unknown beyond the Canaries, some
passing by Cape Verde and others reaching as far as the coast of Sierre
Leone. The source of the Nile and the actual shape of the African continent,
however, remained largely subject to speculation among the Europeans.
From the other side, the Arabs undoubtedly possessed considerable advantages
which enabled them to venture across the dry lands and beyond. A unified
religion and a simple code of ethics; high regard for long distance travel
and the making of new converts in distant lands; the use of camels to cross
the deserts; and maneuverable sails in unfavorable winds, were all factors
commonly credited for their success in maintaining the busy traffic from
the shores of the Mediterranean to the Guinea Coast and from the Hadramaut
to Mozambique. From the 8th century A.D. onward, the Arab world, which spearheaded
the penetration of Africa, maintained that unchallenged lead in its knowledge
of the continent, both north and south, and, because Arab vessels also dominated
the high seas from the East African shores to the South China coast, of
the entire Indian Ocean region. In fact, during the heyday of Arab settlement
in southern China, Canton alone accounted for no less than 100,000 Arab
residents. Through the ensuing long period of Sino-Arab trade and intellectual
exchange, the Chinese, on their part, were able to accumulate a good deal
of this valuable information concerning the Indian Ocean and the continent
of Africa. That China was indeed a beneficiary of this Arab monopoly can
be evidenced by several Chinese world maps such as those by Chu Ssu-pen
ca. 1320 (Slide #227), the nautical charts from
Cheng Ho's expedition of 1405-1433, preserved in the Wu-pei-chih (1621),
and, of course, the present map under consideration, Ch'üan Chin's.
These cartographic portrayals of the continent of Africa pre-date the Portuguese
exploratory efforts by nearly a century. They also represent the culmination
of an era of Sino-Arab exchange of geographical information long before
the Jesuit scholars, beginning with Matteo Ricci, ushered in another era
in the late 16th century. Thus the cartographic expression manifested in
this map of Chin's reflects the last phase of traditional Chinese cartography
which, again, was conceptually based upon the idea of one single Terrestrial
Continent of which Africa became considered an arm. This knowledge,
presumably acquired from first-hand experience and Arab contact, not only
manifested itself in the emerging world concept of Chinese cartography,
but also served to facilitate the spurt of maritime activities in the Indian
Ocean and along the coast of East Africa in the early Ming Dynasty (late
14th, early 15th centuries).
While numerous places in North Africa were mentioned by Chinese authors
of the 8th and 9th centuries, it is more difficult to establish a clear
milestone for the advance of China's knowledge concerning tropical Africa.
The earliest Chinese reference to North Africa can be found in the Ching-hsing-chi
[An Account of Travels and Experiences], written by Ta Huan in 762 A.D.
which is partially preserved in the T'ung Tien by Tu Yiu (735-812).
The former treatise mentions, among other things, Mo-lin [Maghrib
el Aksa, or the Western Territory] and Ch'iu-sa-lo [Djezyret], the
desert expanse between them, and the customs of the inhabitants. Chou Ch'ü-fei,
author of Ling-wai-tai-ta written in 1178 A.D., first mentioned the
Ts'engchi-k'un-lun [the 'Land of the Black'] and the slave trade
of Africa's offshore islands. Also his statement concerning the 'Giant Birds'
there which could swallow camels, appears almost identical to the description
by Marco Polo a century later. Chao Ju-kuo, commissioner of the maritime
trade office at Ch'üan-chou (Marco Polo's Zaiton ) which
had extensive contact with the Arab merchants, and author of Chu-fan-chih
(1226), provided the first account of the products from the East African
coast, Somalia to Zanzibar, including an elaborate description of the ostrich
and the giraffe.
Returning to Ch'üan Chin and Li Hui's map, the delineation of the southern
half of Africa is of particular interest. In the first place, the shape
of the continent, which is basically triangular, and its general orientation,
south, are clearly recognizable. This presentation is in obvious contrast
to relatively contemporary European counterparts, such as the maps of Petrus
Vesconte (c.1321), Andrea Bianco (1436) and Giovanni Leardo (1453), or the
Catalan-Este Map (C.1450), the Vinland Map (c.1440) and Fra
Mauro's world map (1459), on all of which the southern half of Africa
was drawn far eastward and shown in such a way as to portray a larger southern
Africa than the northern portion (Slides #228, 241, 242, 243,
246 and 249). The only European
exceptions seem to be the world maps of Albertinus de Virga (1415, Slide
#240) and the one in the so-called Medicean or Laurentian Sea
Atlas (Slide #233), the latter's presumptive date of 1351 being subject
to controversy primarily because of its remarkable depiction of the continent
of Africa. Chin's map, however, proves that the Chinese, via their Arab
sources, at least as early as the end of the 13th century, had a more or
less correct view of the southern extension of Africa, whereas its northwestern
bulge had not been as yet recognized. It is hardly believable that such
a representation should be casual or the result of mere speculation. Most
scholars such as Walter Fuchs are inclined to assume that the cartographic
heritage of the Arabs had been transmitted to the Chinese, albiet incompletely
and probably did not always reflect the actual experiences of their seafarers.
This north-south extension and shape of Africa can be seen in the cartography
of the Arabs as early as the 13th century on Ibn Sa'id's world map(Slide #216).
It should also be mentioned that the southern tip of Africa is shown in
almost the same form on Chu Ssu-pen's atlas Kuang Yü T'u, preserved
in a copy dated 1541 - 1555(Slide
#227) the original edition of which, the Yü-T'u, again,
is dated 1320, i.e. about the time of Li Tse-min's map.
The fact that the names of the Chinese cities on Chin's map are all the
same as on the maps from 1320, further substantiates that the basic content
of the map, as a whole, must date back to the famous Chinese cartographer
Chu Ssu-pen's own time. However, Ch'üan Chin's map of the world presents
a totally different emphasis from that of Chu Ssu-pen. As the map title
suggests, it aims at showing the locations of 'all the countries and major
cities in history in a comprehensive coverage'. Hence, no names are given
for the southern half of Africa and the Indian Ocean except for the area
around Zanzibar which was already the key trading center in East Africa.
On the other hand, its broader coverage of Africa and the rest of the known
world in the same scale provides a very valuable supplement to Chu Ssu-pen's
map of southern Africa (Slide #227). The relief
features and an additional stream flowing westward in South Africa roughly
corresponding to the Orange River, indicates that Ch'üan Chin was not
entirely negligent on the least inhabited part of that continent.
Whatever the emphasis of the cartographer, rivers as a rule, were the most
prominent landmarks in every Chinese map; and for the inland areas (central
Asia especially) Chin's map is a good example of the Korean conformity to
Chinese tradition, and we see the magnitude of rivers and other water bodies
greatly exaggerated. Similarly along the coast from China to Africa, major
rivers such as the Red, Mekong, Menam, Salween, Ganges, Indus, Tigris, and
Euphrates are laid out in an unmistakable sequence in order to bring forth
the locations of the many states and cities between them.
The treatment of the western regions is also very interesting in that it
includes about 100 place-names for Europe and about 35 for Africa (unfortunately,
though, it has not been possible for scholars to identify many of them).
For those areas that are identifiable, in the northern part of Africa the
Sahara is colored in black, like the Gobi in so many Chinese maps (including
the famous Kuang Yü T'u ), and the position of Alexandria is
indicated by the placement of a prominent pagoda-like object representing
the famous Pharos. The interior of the continent is filled in by a body
of water surrounding an island that is designated as Huang-sha [desert].
In contrast, the Mediterranean Sea is almost entirely shown as terra
firma failing to blacken it in as he has other water areas, perhaps
because he was not quite sure that it was indeed an ordinary sea. Instead,
its coastline is marked like the course of rivers. To the left of it lies
Spain, and to the southeast Arabia is outlined as a long protruding peninsula.
The large, round island east of Arabia is simply named Hai-tao [island],
which apparently represents Sri Lanka (Ceylon). To the east of Sri Lanka,
India betrays its triangular shape only by a river, obviously the Ganges.
The long river emerging to the south is the Hei-shui [Salween], and
the great lake in the upper center combines the Black and the Caspian Seas.
In the utmost northwest, Germany and France are marked phonetically, A-lu-mang-ni-a
and Fa-li-si-na; here, in the West, the Azores are also shown. This
representation of the Atlantic island group is indeed remarkable, especially
on a map produced in the Far East at such an early time, when comparable
detail of the Far East is scant on European maps of the same period. Of
the two largest capitals in the world, as judged from the selection of symbols
adopted by Chin, one is obviously Pyongyang in Korea, and the other is a
European city of apparent equal importance, the position of which would
suggest the city of Budapest.
Another contributing factor in the map's remarkable knowledge of the West
is that which was obtained as a result of the near conquest of the entire
known world, or oikoumene, by the Mongols during the 13th century.
And a final point of interest concerning this remarkable map is that it
could not possibly have benefited from the information which the Chinese
explorer Cheng Ho certainly had brought back five years later concerning
the peninsularity of India. Only in a subsequent version of about 1580 (in
the Imperial Palace at Peking) is India shown as a pronounced, separate
peninsula between southeast Asia and Africa.
The overall disposition and bulk of the different components of the Kangnido
at first make an odd appearance. On the one hand, there is nothing formulaic
or mandated about its structure, such as the traditional European T-in-O
scheme, or the wheel arrangement of the quasi-cosmographic ch'onhado
of later Korean popularity. The attempt here was to study the best maps
available in China, Korea, and Japan, and put together a comprehensive,
indeed "integrated" [honil], map that included every known
part of the world, truly a breathtaking objective by the cartographic standards
of any nation at that time. The maps of this type are rightly regarded by
such authorities as Fuchs as the most magnificent examples of Yuan cartography,
completely overshadowing all contemporary European or Arabic world maps.
The extent of the lead which the Yuan cartographers had, however, may perhaps
best be appreciated by comparing the Korean map with the renoun Catalan
Atlas of 1375, which also purported to show Asia as well as Europe,
or the 14th century oikoumene (for this comparison, see Slide #235). Of course that map too was based upon 13th
century material (i.e. Marco Polo) but when one compares what the two groups
of cartographers accomplished with their available data, the advantage lies
clearly with the Chinese/Koreans.
The result is inevitably strange to our eyes. China and India, like a monstrous
cell that had not yet divided, make up a dominating mass that overfills
the entire center of the map. India has its west coast, but is not drawn
as a peninsula and so has no east coast. To the west, the Arabian peninsula,
with a clearly delineated Persian Gulf, and the African continent, with
its tip correctly pointing south (and not east, as on many early European
maps), hang thinly but with assurance, as if they belonged exactly where
they are. At the top of Africa the Mediterranean supports a less securely
grasped Europe, and the entire north fades into mountains and clouds. On
the eastern side of the map, a relatively massive Korea, easily occupying
as much space as the whole African continent (which, to be sure, is unduly
small) identifies itself as a very important place, while Japan, as if randomly
flipped off the fingers into the ocean, floats uncertainly in the South
China Sea. The relative size and disposition of the three major East Asian
countries reflects a plausible Korean view of the world in the early 15th
century: Korea projecting itself as a major East Asian state, refurbishing
its traditional view of China as the major center of civilization, and playing
its eternal game of keeping Japan as far away as possible. On the other
hand, Koreans were telling themselves that theirs was not just an East Asian
country, but part of the larger world. Their ambition and ability to map
that world would validate their position in it.
To say this is to begin to answer the question, what was this map for ?
A map whose composition was guided by the nation's top educator and Confucian
ideologist, and presided over by two ministers of state, was surely destined
for display in a prominent, central place in the capital. It was probably
on a screen or a wall in some important palace building frequented by the
king and senior officials. But a good understanding of its function is hampered
by the fact that we know nothing of its history after its completion. The
Ryukoku Kangnido, judging by Korean place-name indications, is a
copy reflecting place-name changes made around 1460. If its source map was
the original Kangnido, then this is the last that is heard of it.
Little is known about how the Kangnido came to Japan, but it probably
arrived there independently on three separate occasions. Both the Ryukoku
and Honmyo-ji copies were evidently part of the loot from Hideyoshi's invasion
of Korea (1592-1598). The Ryukoku map was reportedly given by Hideyoshi
to the Honganji, an important Buddhist temple in Kyoto. This institution
ultimately was divided into two branches, east and west, of which the latter
(Nishi Honganji) is today associated with Ryukoku University, which explains
the map's present location. The Honmyo-ji copy (paper scroll), which is
entitled Dai Minkoku Chizu [Map of Great Ming], was given to that
institution by Kato Kiyomasa, its major patron and one of the senior Japanese
commanders on the Korean expedition. Nothing is reported concerning the
provenance of the Tenri University copy (silk scroll, no title), but according
to a study by Unno Kazutaka, it is a 'sister map" to the Honmyo-ji
scroll; his persuasive analysis of the place names indicates that both maps
were copied in Korea about 1568, from a version already cartographically
distant from the Ryukoku copy.
This information permits the conclusion that the Kangnido was probably
often copied in Korea during the 15th and 16th centuries. There is an arguable
possibility that its fortunes intersected with those of the ch'onhado
[map of all under heaven], which came to have a special place in Korean
affections and invariably was the first map in the map albums which were
especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. It also seems conceivable
that it is reflected in an interesting map entitled Yoji chondo [Complete
terrestrial map], dated about 1775. This map, while clearly influenced by
some Sino-Jesuit world map, also shows a strong structural similarity to
the Kangnido, as its owner, Yi Ch'an, has pointed out. Thus Japan
is righted and put in its proper place, the respective masses of Korea,
China, and Africa are brought into more accurate relation, and England and
Scandinavia emerge from Europe. But the map as a whole, and particularly
its treatment of India and Africa, strongly evokes the Kangnido. This is
good evidence that the Kangnido tradition was not broken by the Hideyoshi
wars, but stayed alive in Korea for two more centuries. Somewhere in Korea
a copy may be hiding still.
The Kangnido was only the first of many distinguished scientific
and cultural projects carried out in Korea during the 15th century. King
Sejong (r.1419-1450) and his son King Sejo (r.1455-1468) extended Korean
cartographical foundations by standardizing linear measurement and assembling
detailed distance data between Seoul and the approximately 335 districts
of the country. As a result of these efforts, an excellent national map
was produced in 1463, and a complete geographical survey of the nation,
theTongguk yoji sungam, was compiled in 1481. During the 1430s, Sejong
built an astronomical observatory and a variety of astronomical instruments
and clocks. This provided a foundation for continued research and observation
in the reigns of his successors. Many projects were also carried out in
meteorology and agronomy which not only led to new scientific understanding
in Korea but which provided for rationalized administration and taxation.
Movable type printing with cast metal movable type, which Korea had pioneered
among the East Asian nations in 1242, underwent considerable development
and refinement under the 15th century kings; by the time Gutenberg perfected
his press in 1454, hundreds of editions of books in Chinese and several
in Korean had been printed in Korea with movable type. Finally, King Sejong
in 1443 invented the Korean alphabet, an amazingly original and scientific
system which still serves as the writing system of Korea and which is the
only indigenous alphabetic system in use among the East Asian countries.
The spirit that animated all of these projects, and that marks the 15th
century as perhaps Korea's greatest, was both national and international
in character, and showed a high degree of independent thinking. Koreans
did not merely copy the Chinese culture they imported, but recast and it
into forms and institutions which were distinctively different from China's.
The Kangnido is a perfect example of this process: China, either
as originator or transmitter, provided Korea with most of the materials
for the map, but the transformation and processing of those materials into
a genuine world map was conceived and executed in Korea.
Variations of Anglisized spelling of the Chinese and Korean names, titles,
etc. have been found during the research for this monograph, every source
used a different spelling. The following is an "audit trail" for
reference.
Map Title: Yoktae chewang honil kangnido [Map of Historical
Emperors and Kings and of Integrated Borders and Terrains] = Hun-i chiang-li
li-tai kuo-tu chih t'u [Map of the Territories of the One World and
the Capitals of the Countries in Successive Ages] = Honil kangni yoktae
kukto chi to [Map of Integrated Regions and Terrains and of Historical
Countries and Capitals]
Authors: Ch'üan Chin = Kwon Keun = Kwon Kun
Li Hui = Yi Hoe = Yi Hwei
Map Title:Shêng chiao kuang pei t'u[Map for
the Diffusion of Instruction] = Shengjiao guanbei tu [Map of the
Vast Reach of [Civilization's] Resounding Teaching]
Author: Li Tse-min = Li Zemin
Map Title: Hun-i chiang-li t'u [ Map of the Territories of
the One World] = Hunyi jiangli tu [Map of the Integrated Regions
and Terrain]
Author: Ch'ing Chün = Qingjun
Map Title: Kuang Yu T'u = Guang yu tu [Enlarged Terrestrial
Atlas]
Author: Lo Hung-Hsien = Luo Hongxian
Chu Ssu-Pên = Zhu Siben
Chin Shih-Heng = Kim Sahyong
LOCATIONS: Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan
Honmyo-ji (paper scroll) copy
Tenri University (silk scroll, no title) copy
REFERENCES:
*Aoyama, Toho gakuho, Tokyo, 1938, pp. 103-152
*Chang, Huei-sheng, "Africa and the Indian Ocean in Chinese Maps of
the 14th and 15th Centuries", Imago Mundi, vol. 24, pp. 21-30.
*Fuchs, W., "Was South Africa Already Known in the 13th Century ?",
Imago Mundi, vol. X, pp. 50-51.
*Fuchs, W., The 'Mongol Atlas' of China by Chu Ssu-Pen and the Kuang Yü
T'u, Peking, 1946, Monumenta Serica, monograph VIII., pp. 9-11.
*Harley, J.B. & D. Woodward, The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book
2, p.
*Ledyard, G., "The Kangnido: A Korean World Map, 1402", Circa
1492, pp. 328-332 (color).
*Needham, J., Science and Civilization in China, vol. 3, pp. 554-556.