Mao Kun map, usually referred to in modern Chinese sources as Zheng He's Navigation Map (), is a set of navigation charts published in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

military treatise ''

Wubei Zhi The ''Wubei Zhi'' (; ''Treatise on Armament Technology'' or ''Records of Armaments and Military Provisions''), also commonly known by its Japanese translated name Bubishi, is a military book in Chinese history. It was compiled in 1621 by Mao Yu ...

''. The book was compiled by Mao Yuanyi in 1621 and published in 1628; the name of the map refers to his grandfather Mao Kun () from whose library the map is likely to have originated. The map is often regarded as a surviving document from the

expeditions Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferr ...

in addition to accounts written by Zheng's officers, such as ''

Yingya Shenglan The ''Yingya Shenglan'' (), written by Ma Huan in 1451, is a book about the countries visited by him over the course of the Ming treasure voyages led by Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diploma ...

'' by

Ma Huan Ma Huan (, Xiao'erjing: ) (c. 1380–1460), courtesy name Zongdao (), pen name Mountain-woodcutter (會稽山樵), was a Chinese voyager and translator who accompanied Admiral Zheng He on three of his seven expeditions to the Western Oceans. Ma ...

and ''

Xingcha Shenglan The ''Xingcha Shenglan'' () was a Chinese historical work written by Fei Xin. Fei Xin served as a soldier in the third, fifth, and seventh Ming treasure voyages under the command of Admiral Zheng He. The book contains descriptions of foreign place ...

'' by Fei Xin. It is the earliest known Chinese map to give an adequate representation of Southern Asia, Persia, Arabia and East Africa.

Origin

The map is thought by sinologist J.J.L. Duyvendak to have been part of the library of Mao Kun, a collector of military and naval material, who might have acquired it while he was the governor of

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. The map was included in ''Wubei Zhi'' edited by his grandson Mao Yuanyi, and therefore had been referred to in the past as the "Wubei Zhi chart". In order to distinguish it from other maps in ''Wubei Zhi'', the map was named after Mao Kun by Western scholars such as J. V. G. Mills who studied the map, and therefore came to be known as Mao Kun map in Western sources. The introduction to the map in ''Wubei Zhi'' indicates that the geographical and navigational details of the charts are based on works from the

, and that Mao had "inserted them for the information of posterity and as a memento of heng He'smilitary achievement". The map is therefore generally considered to be based on maps dating to the time of Zheng He's voyages, and accordingly named as Zheng He's Navigation Map in modern Chinese sources. According to Mills, the map may not have been the work of a single person, rather it was produced in an office with information added and corrected when new information became available after each voyage. He suggested that this map may have been prepared for the 6th expedition in 1421, with some content added during the course of the expedition, and that the map may, therefore, be dated to around 1422. Others proposed a date sometime between 1423 and 1430. It has also been suggested by J.J.L. Duyvendak and

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts. Early life and career ...

that the map may have been partly based on Arab nautical charts.

Format and content

The map was originally in the form of a strip map of 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was then divided into 40 pages in the book. The map, after Nanjing and the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

River, shows mainly the coastal regions and islands along the sea route, and places are depicted in their approximate positions along the contour of the coast. The coast of the main land mass is shown largely as a continuous irregular line at the top of the map, with deep V-shaped indentations indicating river estuaries. As a result of the nature of the map and its focus on the coastal region, the shape of the Malay Peninsula cannot be distinguished, and India became elongated as its interior is omitted. Pages of the map are arranged from right to left in traditional Chinese book format, starting from

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and finishing in Hormuz. Places in East Africa such as

Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen’ ...

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

and

Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban cent ...

appear in sequence from left to right on the coast of Africa which is shown as a continuous land mass at the bottom of the sections for India and Sri Lanka. Also marked on the map as dotted lines are sailing routes, with instructions given along the route markings. The sailing instructions are given in compass points and distances – the compass point uses a 24-point compass system with a Chinese character denoting each point (each point further subdivided into three), and the distance is expressed in Chinese units of time (each unit a 2.4-hour period) that would take account of the local currents and winds. Most of the instructions are only given in one direction, although occasionally both the outbound and homeward voyages may also be given. The instructions are also more detailed for Chinese waters. The latitude is indicated by the height of stellar constellation, a similar system to one used by Arabs. Four stellar diagrams are given at the end with instruction for positioning the ships in relation to the stars and constellations to ensure correct navigation in two passages – between Sumatra and Sri Lanka, and between Hormuz and

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...

. The map does not attempt to give a true or consistent representation in its scale or orientation – the scale can vary from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch along parts of the African coast, and in some parts, such as the page with Ceylon, it may orientate in several directions within the same page. There are also geographical distortions in the representation of some places such as

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, and the map becomes less complete the further west it goes. The structure of the last portion or most western of the chart suggests that it may have been composed from a number of other maps of varying scales, including one that was just for Sri Lanka, another for the Maldives and a third for the African Coast. Names of places appear to include Arabic terms (for example ''Jazirah'' for island) and may suggest Arab, Swahili or South Asian cartographic or geographic influences.

Places on map

There are 499 place names in the map, 423 of these have been identified by Mills, although some locations are identified differently by other authors. Some misprints have been noted, for example

Barawa Barawa ( so, Baraawe, Maay: ''Barawy'', ar, ﺑﺮﺍﻭة ''Barāwa''), also known as Barawe and Brava, is the capital of the South West State of Somalia.Pelizzari, Elisa. "Guerre civile et question de genre en Somalie. Les événements et le ...

or Brava is given as ''shi-la-wa'' (十剌哇), with ''shi'' (十) substituting for ''bu'' (卜). There are also unexplained omissions of centers known to be active in the period, such as

Nakhon Si Thammarat Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat pro ...

of Thailand. Some of the places may also have been located in the wrong position. Despite its imperfections, it is considered a map of some significance that provides valuable information to historians.

China

Almost half of the map (18 out of 40 pages) depicts the sailing route from

to the southern edge of China. The first few pages are on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

. Of interest is the inclusion of what are interpreted as

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

, Macclesfield Bank or

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

– the names ''Shitang'' (石塘), ''Wansheng Shitangyu'' (萬生石塘嶼), and ''Shixing Shitang'' (石星石塘) are noted on the map, although identification of these islands may vary with different authors.

South East Asia

The map shows South East Asia in some details. Its main focus is on the route to the Western Ocean (西洋), a Chinese designation for the stretch of water starting from around Java or Sumatra to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

and beyond. This route from the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

through the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

therefore shows greater details on the places of

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. The eastern fringe of the South China Sea, however, is not defined and with only Borneo and the Sulu Islands shown, and no navigation information on routes to the islands further east is given. Among the places marked on the map are

Chenla Chenla or Zhenla (; km, ចេនឡា, ; vi, Chân Lạp) is the Chinese designation for the successor polity of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late sixth to the early ninth century in Indoc ...

(占羅), Champa (占城),

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

(暹羅),

Langkasuka Langkasuka was an ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula. The name is Sanskrit in origin; it is thought to be a combination of ''langkha'' for "resplendent land" -'' sukkha'' for "bliss". The kingdom, along with Old K ...

(狼西加),

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

(as

Temasek Temasek (also spelt Temasik) is an early recorded name of a settlement on the site of modern Singapore. The name appears in early Malay and Javanese literature, and it is also recorded in Yuan and Ming Chinese documents as ''Danmaxi'' ( or ...

, 淡馬錫), Malacca (滿剌加), Penang (梹榔嶼),

Langkawi Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the Strait of Malacca) loc ...

(龍牙交椅), Sumatra, and Kalimantan. Mao Kun map - Ceylon, Africa

South and West Asia

Some of the places marked include

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

(榜葛剌),

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

, Sri Lanka, Kollam,

, Hormuz,

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

. Sri Lanka appears significantly larger than it actually is in relation to India.

Africa

The east coast of Africa is shown in sections of the map with Sri Lanka and India with its land mass at the top of the map and the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

in the middle. Places such as

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

(慢八撒),

(卜剌哇), and

(木骨都束) are marked on the map. Other locations identified include Lamu Island, Manda Island, and Jubba and Marka in Somalia. What appears to be

(麻林地) is shown in the wrong location to the right of Mombasa, and it has been suggested that this Malindi was meant to represent

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

or Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania. Another proposal is that this portion of the map represents only the

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Coast and that Malindi was the terminus of the journey. In this scenario the place thought to be Mombasa would actually be Faza or Mfasa on

Pate Island Pate (Paté) Island () is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. It is the largest island in the Lamu Archipelago, which lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga in the former Coast Province. Th ...

, and that the order of the places on the map would be correct. This proposal also suggests that the Zheng He voyages never traveled more than six degrees south of the Equator, which would explain the omission of the important trading center of Kilwa in Southern Tanzania.

Popular culture

* A map named the Mao Kun map is used in the '' Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series and video games. It was first introduced in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'' but simply referred to as a navigational chart. It was named Mao Kun map in the accompanying book for the next film '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides''. It is presented as a circular rotating map. * Mao Kun is the name of a unique map in the video game ''

Path of Exile ''Path of Exile'' is a free-to-play action role-playing video game developed and published by Grinding Gear Games. Following an open beta phase, the game was released for Microsoft Windows in October 2013. A version for Xbox One was released i ...

''. It is an area inhabited by high-level undead pirates.

Gallery

;Mao Kun map Arrangement in traditional Chinese format, to be read from right to left; first pages on top right, last pages on bottom left. Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-1.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-2.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-3.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-4.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-5.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-6.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-7.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-8.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-9.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-10.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-11.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-12.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-13.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-14.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-15.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-16.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-17.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-18.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-19.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-20.jpg ;Stellar charts Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-21.jpg Wu bei zhi LOC 2004633695-22.jpg

Notes

References

External links

Wu Bei Zhi at the Library of Congress

Mao Kun Explorer
- An interactive application to explore the locations and shipping routes on the Mao Kun Map {{Authority control Historic maps of the world Historic maps of Asia Maps of China Treasure voyages 17th-century maps and globes