These seven maps were discovered by Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology at 1986. He Shuangquan, a researcher at the institute, confirmed by textual research that the surveying and mapping date was the eighth year of Qin Shihuang (239 BC). According to the research of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, they are more than 300 years earlier than the earliest map handed down in China, the Huahe map in Anbeilin 1300, and about 1973 earlier than the map of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan. The author is unknown.
He Shuangquan said that these maps were drawn on four pine boards with basically the same size with black lines, and the graphics were relatively clear and complete. The map reflects the administrative region, geographical profile and economic profile of Qin during the Warring States period. There are 82 notes on place names, rivers, mountains and forest resources in the map. Amazingly, today, tributaries of Weihe River and numerous canyons in this area can still be found on wooden maps, which is consistent with the records in Shuijing Note.
Archaeologists and historical experts believe that these woodblock maps of the Qin Dynasty provide physical evidence for the study of the developed map documents in the pre-Qin period in China, advance the history of map drawing in China by hundreds of years, and are valuable materials for the study of map drawing technology in China.
The earliest map of the world was found in the Forbidden City.
Africa was described on the map of China more than 100 years before Europeans discovered it.
A new exploration of history
Cape Town exhibits the world map collected by the Ming Dynasty Palace! This has become a big news that has recently sensationalized South Africa. Why does the map of the Ming Palace Museum go to the Horn of Africa? What map is this? With these questions, the reporter recently visited researcher Xing Yongfu, director of the First Historical Archives of China.
? The Mixed Map of Daming, which participated in the Millennium Project Map Exhibition of the South African National Assembly, is the earliest world map depicting Africa that Africans have seen so far, and it has caused a great sensation in the local area.
Director Xing Yongfu said that the South Africa exhibited this time was a world map specially drawn by the court when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 600 years. With the approval of our government, this map of the Ming Palace has been made into a copy with the same size as the original, and is currently participating in the "Millennium Project Map Exhibition of the South African National Assembly" in Cape Town, South Africa. This is the earliest map of the world depicting Africa that Africans have seen so far, which has caused a great sensation in the local area.
The original of The Combination of Daming is now in the First Historical Archives of China. Xing Yongfu, director of the museum, said that the First History Museum is the central comprehensive historical archives of China, which mainly preserves the secret archives of the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a total of more than10,000 pieces. Among them are imperial edicts, memorials of civil and military officials, notes and letters exchanged between China and foreign countries, and thousands of maps. For hundreds of years, these royal secret files have been kept in the house for a long time, which is very precious. At the beginning of the 20th century, the archives of Ouchi were known to the world, so together with Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins and Dunhuang Scriptures, * * * was hailed as the three major discoveries in the modern cultural history of China and became a valuable historical and cultural treasure of China.
According to curator Xing Yongfu, The Mixed Picture of Daming was painted in the 22nd year of Ming Hongwu (AD 1389), with a length of 3.86 meters and a width of 4.75 meters. It is the largest, oldest and best-preserved map of the ancient world in China, and it is a precious historical relic of national treasure.
■ The African continent is located at the lower left of this map, in which the rivers run very close to the Nile and the Orange River, and the prominent mountains are in line with the Dreecken Mountains.
Interestingly, this map of the Ming Dynasty is covered with many labels in Manchu. What happened? Director Xing Yongfu said that after the Qing government replaced the Ming dynasty, more than 1000 China place names in this picture were marked in Manchu with different sizes, indicating that Manchu people were ruling the land in China.
This map of the world of the Ming Dynasty is centered on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, starting from Japan in the east, reaching Europe in the west, Java in the south and Mongolia in the north. There is no obvious territorial boundary in the whole map, but different colors of place names are used to distinguish internal and external ownership. The map focuses on the relative positions of the local governments and mountains and rivers in the Ming Dynasty, including 1000 towns, villages, ponds, lakes and ponds, border islands, ancient sites and ancient rivers.
The description of Europe and Africa in Daming Mixed Picture is meticulous, with regular brushwork and smooth brushwork. The African continent is located at the lower left of this map, in which the rivers run very close to the Nile and the Orange River, and the prominent mountains are in the same position as the Dreecken Mountains. The map also shows that there is a big lake in the center of the African continent, which may be drawn according to Arab legends. Because in the legend, it is written that "there is a big lake further south in the Sahara desert, which is much larger than the Caspian Sea". On the map, the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa has exquisite sea and land lines and a clear shape. It seems that people can see Zheng's great feat of going to the Western Ocean, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and creating the history of ancient China and even the world.
■ Ms. ginwala, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, called South African historians to make an in-depth investigation and study on the map, and came to the conclusion that China people knew something about Africa as early as 100 years ago when Europeans claimed to have "discovered" the African continent.
How did the magnificent "Daming patchwork map" get known by the South African government and participate in the "Millennium Project Map Exhibition of the South African National Assembly"? Director Xing Yongfu said that when Chairman Li Peng visited Africa in199,
Ginwala, Speaker of the South African National Assembly, was given an Atlas of Ancient China (Ming Dynasty Volume), the first few pages of which were a mixed picture of the Ming Dynasty. Speaker ginwala himself loves collecting ancient maps, and he has great attainments in the appreciation and research of ancient maps. She was very surprised when she saw that China people had drawn such a beautiful map more than 600 years ago. She called South African historians to make an in-depth investigation and study of the map.