A New Map of Asia

Map of the continent of Asia from Anatolia in the west to Japan and the mythical Company's Land in the East.

Senex derives much of his geography for this map from Herman Moll's large map of the continent issued in "The World Described". Moll himself compiled his map from numerous sources including William Dampier and Woodes Rogers, two celebrated navigators and privateers of the time. Several features on both maps have been sourced from Guillaume de L'Isle, although the two large myths in the east - the Land of Yesso and Company's Land - are both enlarged and emphasized. This is not a feature on De L'Isle's maps. Senex also names the body of water north of Japan as the Sea of Corea, a very early use of this name.


One feature which is not present on Moll's map but which Senex does add is the route of the embassy of Eberhard Isbrand Ides, a Dane in the service of the Russian Czar who travelled to Peking in 1692, negotiated trade terms with the Kangzi Emperor on behalf of Russia, and returned to Moscow in 1694. An account of his journey was published in the early 18th century and he is credited as being the first modern European to describe the Gobi Desert.

Original hand colour. [AS1219]