Japonia Regnum

A superb early map of Japan based on the geography of the Jesuit priest Martino Martini who lived and worked in China for 8 years and provided Europeans with some of the earliest first-hand accounts of Chinese culture and history. Jan Blaeu met Father Martini in person in Amsterdam during his return voyage from China to Rome in 1653. Blaeu's 'Atlas Sinensis', the first European atlas dedicated to China, was published as a result of this meeting.

This map is important as it is the first European map to show Korea correctly as a peninsula, not an island, and it also provided a model for the shape of Japan on other maps for over a century. Original hand-colour.

[SEAS3859]