Connected Cartographies: World Geography and the Sino-Western Translation of Knowledge, 1580-1842

by Florin-Stefan Morar

Overview

In the 'Age of Discovery', explorers brought a wealth of information about new and strange lands from across the oceans. Yet, even as the Americas appeared on new world maps, China remained a cartographic mystery. How was the puzzle of China's geography unravelled? Connected Cartographies demonstrates that knowledge about China was generated differently, not through exploration but through a fascinating bi-directional cross-cultural exchange of knowledge. Florin-Stefan Morar shows that interactions between Chinese and Western cartographic traditions led to the creation of a new genre of maps that incorporated features from both. This genre included works by renowned cartographers such as Abraham Ortelius and Matteo Ricci and other less-known works, 'black tulips of cartography,' hidden in special collections. Morar builds upon original sources in multiple languages from archives across three continents, producing a pioneering reconstruction of Sino-Western cartographic exchanges that shaped the modern world map and our shared global perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009636070
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/31/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook

About the Author

Florin-Stefan Morar is Assistant Professor of the History of Science at the National University of Singapore working on the global history of science, the history of international relations, and digital humanities.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The lay of the land: Chinese and European world maps before the encounter; 2. Translation and treason: the demarcation controversy and the first translations of maps of China in Europe; 3. The Westerner: Matteo Ricci's world map and the quandaries about European identity in late Ming China; 4. Material matters: the 1603 world map by Matteo Ricci and Li Yingshi and the Manchu appropriation of Chinese and Western cartographies; 5. At the limits of China: translating borders between China and the West; 6. China's place in the world: Sino–Western maps and the transformation of Chinese cartography; Epilogue the archipelago; List of maps and figures; Abbreviations; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘Morar carries forward recent shifts in cartographic history to challenge the idea that Europe ‘discovered' the rest of the world by looking closely at how cartographers, both European and Chinese, crossed cultures as they put the world together on paper.' Timothy Brook, University of British Columbia

In this masterful study, Morar charts how translation and adaptation-not just exploration-crafted early global perspectives in both China and Europe. ‘Connected Cartographies' offers a fresh perspective on how Jesuit maps, Manchu border policies, and Qing expansion reshaped the meaning of ‘empire' and ‘border' itself, underscoring the importance of hybrid cartographic traditions for modern global history. Hyunhee Park, The City University of New York

‘Connected Cartographies' offers a compelling narrative of the interactive co-emergence of early modernity in China and Europe in the fields of world geography and cartography. Qiong Zhang, Wake Forest University

From the Publisher