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The ''Da Ming Hun Yi Tu'' (, Manchu: ''dai ming gurun-i uherilehe nirugan'') or ''Amalgamated Map of the Great Ming Empire'' is a world map created in China. It was painted in colour on stiff silk and 386 x 456 cm in size.〔(Wang et al. 1994:51)〕 The original text was written in Classical Chinese, but Manchu labels were later superimposed on them. It is one of the oldest surviving maps from East Asia although the exact date of creation remains unknown. It depicts Eurasia, placing China in the center and stretching northward to Mongolia, southward to Java, eastward to central Japan, and westward to Europe (including the East African coast as an island). ==History== The map was created sometime during the Ming dynasty and handed over to the new rulers of China, the Manchus. The place names of China on the map reflect the political situation in 1389, or the 22nd year of the reign of the Hongwu Emperor. Thus some Chinese scholars concluded that it was indeed created in 1389 or little later.〔 Others maintain a cautious attitude, suggesting that what was revised in 1389 is probably a source map of the ''Da Ming Hun Yi Tu'' and that the ''Da Ming Hun Yi Tu'' itself was created much later.〔(Miya 2006:511-512)〕 In either case, it is certain that the Ming dynasty created a map around 1389. Japanese scholar Miya Noriko speculated on the motivation behind it: Although the Hongwu Emperor, first of the Ming dynasty, drove the Mongol Yuan dynasty out of China in 1368, Mongols maintained military power that posed a real threat to the new dynasty. The situation was changed in 1388 when Uskhal Khan of Northern Yuan was killed and the Khubilaid line of succession was terminated. The Ming dynasty may have celebrated this historic event by creating a new map.〔 It has been kept on the Imperial Palace and was called ''Qingzi Qian Yitong Tu'' (清字簽一統圖) in some catalogs.〔(Fuchs 1962:2)〕 It is currently kept in protective storage at the First Historical Archive of China, in Beijing. A full-sized digital replica was made for the South African government in 2002.〔AFP press release (Ancient map of Africa poses questions ), Nov 2002- via Google Groups, accessed 2008-03-16〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Da Ming Hun Yi Tu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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