History Primary Source Exercise
Primary Source Exercise, Unit Five
Below you will find images of the Kangnido Map discussed in the Brotton reading, Chapter 4, and the Waldseemüller map discussed in Brotton, Chapter 4, as well as of the Babylonian World Map discussed in the Introduction. First read the chapters and study the maps. Then respond to the “Questions to Consider” that go with each map. You will choose either the Kangnido or the Waldseemüller map to discuss (not both).
Babylonian World Map from Sippar, c. 700-500 BCE
Kangnido World Map, 1402
Questions to Consider
Why is China so prominent in this map? Why is Korea bigger than Japan, or even Africa (depicted as a peninsula to the far left, with a strange lake in the middle)? What does this tell us about how the map maker wanted to portray Korea’s relationship with its neighbors in this ear?
Does this map seem to be more about terrain (mountains, rivers, deserts, etc.) or about “political geography? Why? What does that tell us about Chinese and Korean ideas about mapmaking and the purpose of maps?
Kangnido World Map Detail: Korea
Martin Waldseemüller, world Map 1507
Martin Waldseemüller, world Map 1507, Detail
Questions to Consider
What does Brotton mean when he says that the creators of European maps of the Renaissance were attempting to “reconcile new information with established classical models of the world”? (p. 156) How can we see that struggle between old and new knowledge in the Waldseemüller map? Where did the “old” knowledge come from? What about the “new”?
Martin Waldseemüller, world Map 1513 Detail, the Atlantic