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 Posted on: 21 September 2012

Sebastian Munster: Tavola della oriental region dell' Asia, che comprende l'estreme terre, & regni di quella (1st Printed Map of Asia) - 1550

The first printed map of the Asia, by Sebastian Munster, from the 1540 edition of Munster's Geographia.

The map shows Asia from the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf to the Pacific. The Pacific Ocean shows an archipelago of 7448 islands, a forerunner to the better understanding of Southeast Asia, which is largely unrecognizeable, although Java Minor and Major, Porne (Borneo), Moluca and several other islands are named. The map does not include Japan, which appears on the map of America. The northeastern coast of Asia is also omitted. The map also includes a large sea monster and mermaid type creature.

Although largely based on Ptolemy's work, the map incorporates some of the more recent Portuguese discoveries. The outlines of the Indian subcontinent, between the Indus and the Ganges rivers are now in a more recognizable form, with "Zaylon" (Sri Lanka) correctly shown as an island. The Portuguese outpost sof Goa and Calicut, the first place where Vasco da Gama landed in 1497, are depicted. Further to the east "Taprobana" is also designated as "Sumatra.". The Portugese trading port of "Malaqua" is shown. Java is depicted as two separate islands. "Moloca," center of the spice island trade and the object of considerable conflict between Spain and Portugal is shown. The resolution of the dispute was the official purpose of Magellan's epic circumnavigation. The treatment of "Cathay" (China) is consistent with the writings of Marco Polo and other Venetian travellers.

The first edition can be distinguished by the single decorative printer's device, to the left of the title.

Munster's Geographia was a cartographic landmark, including not only Ptolemaic maps, but also a number of landmark modern maps, including the first separate maps of the 4 continents, the first map of England and the earliest obtainable map of Scandinavia. Munster dominated cartographic publication during the mid-16th Century. Munster is generally regarded as one of the most important map makers of the 16th Century.

Sebastien Munster was a linguist and mathematician, who initially taught Hebrew in Heidelberg. He issued his first mapping of Germany in 1529, after which he issued a call geographical information about Germany to scholars throughout the country. The response was better than hoped for, and included substantial foreign material, which supplied him with up to date, if not necessarily accurate maps for the issuance of his Geographia in 1540.

Source: Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

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India is still India, that name seems to have remained unchanged in western thinking since the Greeks

i cant find its origin though...

Re: " India is still India, that name seems to have remained unchanged in western thinking since the Greeks. " Yes and no. While the name has certainly been used for centuries if not millenia , ' India ' was used by European cartographers, as is clear above, to denote a large geographic region - in the sense that we might use ' the middle-east ' or ' Asia minor' today - not to denote a political/ cultural entity or a nation state, as the word has now come to mean... If, for example, you look at the upper right hand corner of this rather splendid map you will see that the region that is roughly analogous with modern-day Siberia is denoted as ' India [s]uperior ' ie. Further or greater India - a purely geographic term .... At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the terms ' East Indies', ' Hindoostan' or in the case of specific regional districts (sub-continental micro-states) ' Bengal', ' Mysore' and so on were used as often in Europe (certainly in Britain ) when referring to the Indian subcontinent just as much if not more frequently, than ' India ' was ... To cite but one example from amidst thousands - ' The Dictionary of Words Used in the East Indies ' the official, standard issue and much-thumbed addition to any 18th century E.I.C. functionaries library – was published under that title until as late as the 1820s.

Oh that was a part of the historical craziness to connect with India, and the confusion caused by Christopher Columbus by naming Americas (or the New World) as India and thence the necessity of 'East Indies' in order to differentiate it from the 'West Indies'. 'East Indies' definitely meant the 'India' of spice trade and spirituality.

Re: 'East Indies' definitely meant 'India' Well, once again, yes and no ... The ' East Indies ' was originally used to refer to the off-shore island groups that constitute present day Indonesia... the term had a very broad geographic definiton - one that did not confine itself simply to the Indian sub-continent. According to dear old Wikipedia (always useful as a first point of inquiry, if for not a great deal besides) : " East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia.The term has traditionally excluded China, Japan, and other countries to the north of India and the Himalayas. The names "India" and "the Indies" are derived from the Indus River in modern-day India and were applied by the ancient Greeks to most of the regions of Asia that lay further to the east than Persia. This usage dates at least from the time of Herodotus, in the 5th century BC . " The study of the origin and evolution of place names and geographic locations/ terminology ( Etymology ?) can be a useful means for those who are interested in history to try and ' think outside of the box' ...ie. to endeavour to view the world from beyond the rigid straight-jacket of our own rigid, entirely modern conditioning and perceptions.

Political boundaries through the ages under different rules ( time lapse shots of the maps if played in slow motion, courtesy again dear old wiki), expanded and shrank wildly. However, the concept of 'India' (I am trying to get inside the historical western mind box), meant Spices, Spirituality, and if I may add 'Sanskrit' (not that I am a stickler of alliteration).

By historical western mind, I meant Herodotus, Justin, Pliny, Strabo etc.

Re: ' Political boundaries through the ages under different rulers'... Yes, I take your point Mr Deb. ' India ' certainly meant ' spices' to Europeans ( or more accurately it would be associated with ' various trading opportunities in the Kingdom of the Great Mughal ') prior to about 1750 ... I would suggest, however, that European interest in sub-continental ' spirituality' would extend little further (at that time) to its immediate dismissal as so much ' pagan idolatry'. Further, if you were somehow able to inform an East India Company official of the 1730s or 1740s that ' beginning in 1757, the British conquered [ a misnomer if ever there was one !] India and went on to rule that country for the next two hundred years', that official would have next to no idea of what you were talking about ...

The spice trade existed much before 1750, ref. the passages from 'Periplus of the Erythraean Sea' etc. The EIC (Dutch included) officials (many quite young, you gather from so many tombstones ) setting sail towards India must surely would have 'felt' what it is like going eastwards towards a certain 'India'.

'Periplus of the Erythraean Sea' is dated to first centuary CE.

... Yes, of course, the Eurasian 'spice trade' has ancient roots (and ancient routes ! ) - but until the 15th century was primarily conducted overland through Middle-Eastern markets, intermediaries etc and so on... It expanded dramatically ( to the point were it would have had an impact on the daily consciousness of the European public at large rather than strictly within the tiny ruling elites) only with the coming of intercontinental maritime commerce... Re: " The EIC (Dutch included) " - indeed - the VOC ( ' Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie ') ... As you are no doubt aware, there were English (and Scottish) Dutch, Danish and French trading concerns (as well as the Portugese, who had been there even longer still) with major operations on the Indian sub-continent from c. 1600 onwards...

There is no yes and no here. All the post facto comparisons with entites like Asia Minor are meaningless, since it tends to use forms used near to present and that too briefly with form used without interruption for over 2000 years. Also in the past countries were referred to by country names, old maps do not carry names like Europe, Aisa etc. The names are Persia, Rome etc. One has to examine the nomenclature in the context of existing nomenclatures used in the period of nomenclature. It is entirely pointless to try and retrofit later day European formulations on older historical behavioral patterns. Too much history has been messed up by such mixing.

>> i cant find its origin though... Whose origin? The word India? It transformed from Sindhu --> Hindu -- > Indoi