Waldseemüllerâs map of 1507 are the same.
Photographic Insert 1
Admiral Zheng He, a pioneer of global exploration, who was in great part responsible for this remarkable adventure.
The Liu Gang 1418 /1763 mapâa tribute to Zheng Heâs courageous voyages of discovery.
Bronze Chinese lion figure at the entrance to the Emperorâs Summer Palace, Beijing.
Visitors at the Summer Palace, Beijing, c. 1902.
A view of the magnificent Forbidden City, Beijing, whose construction flourished under the great emperors of the Ming dynasty.
A delicate piece of beautiful Ming porcelain, as traded around the world by the Treasure fleet.
A view of the Great Wall of China snaking along the rugged mountain ridge at Simatai.
A vast fleet of Chinese junks could carry a considerable amount more than a caravan of camels!
The fleet journeyed northward up the crystalline Red Sea waters, through to the bustling souks of Cairo, and beyond.
12
TOSCANELLIâS NEW ASTRONOMY
R elations between China and the West began long before 1434. The Catholic Encyclopedia presents a concise summary:
Some commentators have found China in this passage of Isaias (xlix, 12): âthese from the land of Sinim.â Ptolomy divides Eastern Asia into the country of Sinae and Sericeâ¦with its chief city Sera. Strabo, Virgil, Horace, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ammianus speak of the Seres, and they are mentioned by Florence among the nations which sent special embassies to Rome at the time of Augustus. The Chinese called the eastern part of the Roman Empire Ta Tsâin (Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor), Fu-lin during the Middle Ages. The monk Cosmos had a correct idea of the position of China (sixth century). The Byzantine writer, Theophylactis Simocatta (seventh century) gave an account of China under the name Taugas. There is a Chinese record of a Roman Embassy in A.D. 166. 1
Tai Peng Wang kindly provided Chinese descriptions of papal envoys. 2 The ambassador who reached Florence in 1434 was by no means the first. According to Yu Lizi, Yuan China called the Papal States âthe country of Farangâ and the Papal States as a whole âFulinâ or âFarang.â 3 The official Ming history states that diplomatic exchanges between the Papal States and Ming China began as early as 1371, when Hong Wu, Zhu Diâs father, assigned a foreigner from Fulin or Farang called NeiKulan (Nicholas?) as the Chinese ambassador to the Papal States to inform the pope of the dynastic change in China. Later on, Hong Wu appointed a delegation led by Pula (Paul?), who brought gifts and tribute to Farang.
After 1371, diplomacy between China and Europe was a two-way street, with the Papal States and China exchanging ambassadors. Yan Congjian in volume 11 of the Shuyu Zhouzi Lu described the visit of the Chinese ambassador to the Papal States in the reign of Zhu Di.
Yan Congjian starts by commenting that Italyâs climate was rather cold, then continues:
Unlike China, the houses here are made of cement but without roof tiles. The people make wine with grapes. Their musical instruments include clarinet, violin, drum and so on. The King [the pope] wears red and yellow shirts. He wraps his head with golden thread woven silk. In March every year the Pope will go to the church to perform his Easter services. As a rule he will be sitting on a red-coloured carrier carried by men to the church. All his prominent ministers [cardinals] dress like the King [the pope] either in green or beige or pink or dark purple and wrap their heads. They ride horses when going outâ¦. Minor offences are usually punished up to two hundred times. Capital offences, however, are punishable with death usually drowning the offenders in the sea. These [Papal] states are peace-loving. As is often the case when a minor dispute or rivalry arose, the disputing states only waged a war of words in the exchange of diplomatic despatches. But if there were a serious
Photographic Insert 1
Admiral Zheng He, a pioneer of global exploration, who was in great part responsible for this remarkable adventure.
The Liu Gang 1418 /1763 mapâa tribute to Zheng Heâs courageous voyages of discovery.
Bronze Chinese lion figure at the entrance to the Emperorâs Summer Palace, Beijing.
Visitors at the Summer Palace, Beijing, c. 1902.
A view of the magnificent Forbidden City, Beijing, whose construction flourished under the great emperors of the Ming dynasty.
A delicate piece of beautiful Ming porcelain, as traded around the world by the Treasure fleet.
A view of the Great Wall of China snaking along the rugged mountain ridge at Simatai.
A vast fleet of Chinese junks could carry a considerable amount more than a caravan of camels!
The fleet journeyed northward up the crystalline Red Sea waters, through to the bustling souks of Cairo, and beyond.
12
TOSCANELLIâS NEW ASTRONOMY
R elations between China and the West began long before 1434. The Catholic Encyclopedia presents a concise summary:
Some commentators have found China in this passage of Isaias (xlix, 12): âthese from the land of Sinim.â Ptolomy divides Eastern Asia into the country of Sinae and Sericeâ¦with its chief city Sera. Strabo, Virgil, Horace, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ammianus speak of the Seres, and they are mentioned by Florence among the nations which sent special embassies to Rome at the time of Augustus. The Chinese called the eastern part of the Roman Empire Ta Tsâin (Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor), Fu-lin during the Middle Ages. The monk Cosmos had a correct idea of the position of China (sixth century). The Byzantine writer, Theophylactis Simocatta (seventh century) gave an account of China under the name Taugas. There is a Chinese record of a Roman Embassy in A.D. 166. 1
Tai Peng Wang kindly provided Chinese descriptions of papal envoys. 2 The ambassador who reached Florence in 1434 was by no means the first. According to Yu Lizi, Yuan China called the Papal States âthe country of Farangâ and the Papal States as a whole âFulinâ or âFarang.â 3 The official Ming history states that diplomatic exchanges between the Papal States and Ming China began as early as 1371, when Hong Wu, Zhu Diâs father, assigned a foreigner from Fulin or Farang called NeiKulan (Nicholas?) as the Chinese ambassador to the Papal States to inform the pope of the dynastic change in China. Later on, Hong Wu appointed a delegation led by Pula (Paul?), who brought gifts and tribute to Farang.
After 1371, diplomacy between China and Europe was a two-way street, with the Papal States and China exchanging ambassadors. Yan Congjian in volume 11 of the Shuyu Zhouzi Lu described the visit of the Chinese ambassador to the Papal States in the reign of Zhu Di.
Yan Congjian starts by commenting that Italyâs climate was rather cold, then continues:
Unlike China, the houses here are made of cement but without roof tiles. The people make wine with grapes. Their musical instruments include clarinet, violin, drum and so on. The King [the pope] wears red and yellow shirts. He wraps his head with golden thread woven silk. In March every year the Pope will go to the church to perform his Easter services. As a rule he will be sitting on a red-coloured carrier carried by men to the church. All his prominent ministers [cardinals] dress like the King [the pope] either in green or beige or pink or dark purple and wrap their heads. They ride horses when going outâ¦. Minor offences are usually punished up to two hundred times. Capital offences, however, are punishable with death usually drowning the offenders in the sea. These [Papal] states are peace-loving. As is often the case when a minor dispute or rivalry arose, the disputing states only waged a war of words in the exchange of diplomatic despatches. But if there were a serious
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