[KS] Old Korean maps of Europe?

[gkl1 at columbia.edu]

   Wikipedia (for once!), is correct. But the misunderstanding is
understandable. The circa 1471 copy of the Kangnido (the Ry^ukoku
Daigaku copy, which is the oldest known copy of the long lost 1402
original) contained an error in that the copyist apparently didn't
recognize that the Mediterranean and Black seas were bodies of
water and not countries, and so did not color them with the same
ocean color (which over the centuries has become black), but rather
left them undifferentiated from the land areas. The same error was
made in the Tenri University copy (believed to be from about 1568;
see illustration in my coverage, cited in my earlier message today,
p. 244), but in that case the delineation was a little more careful
and the identities of the areas in question are much more clearly
the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.
   The treatment of these seas by the original cartographer (either
of the Islamic source map, the Chinese copy of it, or the original
Kangnido of 1402) was a bit confused. The Italian and Greek
peninsulas were pushed almost together, leaving only a channel
between them, and the Black Sea poured through it into the
Mediterranean--thus really through the Adriatic rather than the
Bosporus. That much said, it is much easier to interpret the sea
areas than the land ones, Spain comes out the most clearly, and 
Italy and Greece are readily detectable while the rest is pretty
much a blur. This too is quite understandable given the ultimate
Islamic source.

Gari Ledyard

Quoting Michael Duffy <mgduffy45 at hotmail.com>:

>
> There's a replica of the Kangnido map in the National Museum in
> Seoul. The original is in Ryukoko University in Japan. I see that
> the Wikipedia entry says it clearly depicts the Mediterranean,
> though to my cartographically untrained eye, it seemed to show
> Europe as a northward extension of Africa.
>
>
>
>
>
> From:  Georgy Katsiaficas <katsiaficasg at wit.edu>
> Reply-To:  Korean Studies Discussion List
> <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> To:  Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Subject:  Re: [KS] Old Korean maps of Europe?
> Date:  Tue, 25 Apr 2006 09:43:55 -0400
> >Dear all,
> >
> >Attached is one such map I pulled off the internet a few weeks
> ago...If you
> >google Kangnido map (the original of which appears to be in
> Japan) you
> >should find lots of references.
> >
> >Georgy Katsiaficas
> >Professor of Humanities
> >Wentworth Institute of Technology
> >550 Huntington Avenue
> >Boston MA 02115 USA
> >Tel +1 (617) 989-4384
> >Fax +1 (617)
> 989-4591
> >www.eroseffect.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On 4/24/06 3:02 PM, "DeberniereTorrey" <djtorrey at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Dear List Members,
> > >
> > > On behalf of a colleague, I'm inquiring to see if
> > > anyone knows of any medieval Korean map that includes
> > > Europe or any other part of the western world?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Deberniere Torrey
> > >
> > > Dept. of Comparative Literature
> > > Penn State University
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
> ><< 300px-645px-KangnidoCaption.jpg >>
>
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>