Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds
Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia

This book documents the relationship and wisdom of Asian cartographers in the Islamic and Chinese worlds before the Europeans arrived.

Hyunhee Park (Author)

9781107547834, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 October 2015

306 pages, 11 b/w illus. 13 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

'Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia is a book well worth reading and pondering. It offers valuable insights into the historical exchanges, through the aegis of geography, between the Chinese and Muslim worlds. It is a refreshing reminder of the forgotten fact that the study of geography is the theatre of history, and that history is understood within the limits of a certain geography.' Tarek Ladjal, Arabica

Long before Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope en route to India, the peoples of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia engaged in vigorous cross-cultural exchanges across the Indian Ocean. This book focuses on the years 700 to 1500, a period when powerful dynasties governed both regions, to document the relationship between the Islamic and Chinese worlds before the arrival of the Europeans. Through a close analysis of the maps, geographic accounts, and travelogues compiled by both Chinese and Islamic writers, the book traces the development of major contacts between people in China and the Islamic world and explores their interactions on matters as varied as diplomacy, commerce, mutual understanding, world geography, navigation, shipbuilding, and scientific exploration. When the Mongols ruled both China and Iran in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, their geographic understanding of each other's society increased markedly. This rich, engaging, and pioneering study offers glimpses into the worlds of Asian geographers and mapmakers, whose accumulated wisdom underpinned the celebrated voyages of European explorers like Vasco da Gama.

1. From imperial encounter to maritime trade: Chinese understanding of the Islamic world, 750–1260
2. The representation of China and the world: Islamic knowledge about China, 750–1260
3. Interpreting the Mongol world: Chinese understanding of the Islamic world, 1260–1368
4. Beyond Marco Polo: Islamic knowledge about China, 1260–1368
5. Legacy from half the globe before 1492: Chinese understanding of the Islamic world and Islamic knowledge about China, 1368–1500
Conclusion: lessons from pre-modern Sino-Islamic contact.

Subject Areas: Islam [HRH], Historical geography [HBTP], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Asian history [HBJF], General & world history [HBG]