Seoul National University Gyujanggak reproduction (Ryukoku University collection)
(Honkoji Temple collection)
(Digital restoration) The Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo This is a world map created in the early Joseon dynasty, in 1402, the 2nd year of King Taejong's reign. Joseon combined world maps collected from Yuan and Ming China, the map of Japan presented to Joseon by Japanese envoys, and local maps submitted to the court by Joseon's various counties and districts. This wasn't just some randomly produced map. The Left and Right State Councilors participated in its creation, and Gwon Geun, a meritorious official and top Confucian scholar, wrote the colophon. It was a map compiled as a national project after Joseon's King Taejong ascended the throne.
It reflects geographical information from the Mongol Empire and Arab merchants that reached Goryeo during the Yuan dynasty era. It is the best surviving world map from East Asia, and at the time it was made, it was the most detailed map in the entire world.
(The Catalan Atlas, made around 1380, which contains information from missionaries Rubruck and Marco Polo who visited the Mongol Empire)
(The Fra Mauro map, made in Venice around 1450, about 50 years after the Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo was created)
It shows a significant difference even when compared to contemporary European maps, and it was made more precisely than maps created much later. This is because the European Age of Exploration hadn't fully kicked off yet. When the Mauro map was being made, it was the very early stages of the Age of Exploration—Portugal was just starting to explore the West African coast. What makes the Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo special is not just that its shape is more precise than contemporary maps. It contains geographical information about all known regions of the world at that time.
The Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean are all shown in detail. Europe includes Greece, Italy, Turkey, Spain, France, and Germany. The Middle East includes Jerusalem, Baghdad, Mecca, and Alexandria. It even depicts the tributaries of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Nile rivers.
If you look at the Egypt section, it marks the city of Alexandria along with the famous "Lighthouse of Pharos." The Pharos Lighthouse didn't exist around 1400, but the information about the giant lighthouse built in Alexandria was passed down, and it was expressed as a huge lighthouse illustration on the Joseon map. Furthermore, it depicts Southeast Asian regions, such as the Strait of Malacca and Indonesia, which were Arab trade routes, focusing on the sea lanes. It especially contains detailed geographical information about the Middle East. The map includes not only past geographical data but also critical trade hubs and local information of the time.
For example, the island of Zanzibar in East Africa appears accurately on the Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo map, where the place name is labeled 'Sangolno.' This means "Black Slave." This is because the African island of Zanzibar was a key hub for the black slave trade at the time. It wasn't just drawing a map; it included geographical status reports of each region. This map is particularly famous because of Africa.
Joseon's Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo shows the Sahara Desert, the Nile River, the tributaries of the Orange River, and even the Kilimanjaro mountain range in Africa. This is the map's greatest mystery. It wasn't until 1488, 80 years later, that Europeans discovered the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa and found a way to sail around to Asia. Up until that point, Europeans didn't even know it was possible to sail around Africa by boat. But almost 100 years earlier, how on earth did Joseon, a nation in the Far East, know the location of the southernmost tip of Africa and the fact that it was surrounded by sea on three sides? And how did they know the topography of the West African coast, past the southern Cape of Good Hope, which Europeans hadn't even reached yet?
The Orange River in South Africa is marked on Joseon's Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo. Because this is the first time the Orange River in South Africa was marked on a world map, the South African Parliament once held an exhibition to commemorate it. The most likely reason is Arab merchants. The geographical information in Joseon's Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo obviously wasn't gathered from the experiences of Joseon people. The geography and maps of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa were created based on Arab geographical data. The geographical information obtained by the Mongol Empire when they conquered Arabia was passed to the Yuan dynasty, and Joseon referenced this. In short, this means there is a very high probability that Arab people explored the West African coast, rounding the Cape of Good Hope long before the Europeans did. The evidence that the Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo referenced Arab maps is confirmed on the map itself.
This is the Arab Idrisi world map. Made in 1154, it surprisingly includes latitude markings. The red lines represent latitudes of the same climate zone, and the lines are curved to express that the Earth is round. It also marks the Mountains of the Moon, known as the source of the Nile River. Ptolemy included the African region trading with Egypt and marked the Mountains of the Moon as the source of the Nile in his world map during the Greek era. This geographical information about Southern Egypt was passed to Byzantium and then to the Arab world. Afterward, the information about the Mountains of the Moon was included in Arab maps. Ptolemy's world map was not well known in Western Europe until the Renaissance; it only became known after being translated around 1406. This was geographical information known exclusively to the Arab world.
And these Mountains of the Moon are marked exactly the same way on the Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo in the distant Eastern nation of Joseon. This means Joseon referenced Arabian sources.
"Everyone is geeking out over how detailed and sick this map is, confirming ancient Arab/Joseon connections—but the mood got instantly ruined when the final block reminded us all the originals are chillin' in Japan."
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