[KS] Earliest European account of Korea

[Brother Anthony]

It has now been pointed out to me that the earliest European account of Korea of any substance is almost certainly that given in the "Novus Atlas Sinesis" made by Martino Martini S.J. (who spent 8 years in China) and published in 1655 by Dutch cartographer Willem Jansz Blaeu. His map was the first to show Corea as a peninsula . Henry Savenije provides a modern English verison of Martini's text at http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/Martinoe.htm (also a Dutch text) while a longer description of Martini's work can be found at http://cheongsunghwa.blogspot.com/2010/06/iv-accounts-of-martino-martini.html  Various images of the map are available, eg http://wolfgangmichel.web.fc2.com/serv/eujap/maps/martini/index.html 

Brother Anthony
Sogang University Seoul