Kunyu Wanguo Quantu
| Kunyu Wanguo Quantu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 坤輿萬國全圖 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 坤舆万国全图 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | A Map of the Myriad Countries of the World | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kunyu Wanguo Quantu is a Chinese world map printed in 1602. It was created by the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci and his Chinese collaborators, the mandarin Zhong Wentao, and the technical translator Li Zhizao. It is the earliest known Chinese world map based on European cartography. It has been referred to as the Impossible Black Tulip of Cartography, "because of its rarity, importance and exoticism". The map was crucial in expanding Chinese knowledge of the world. Shortly after its publication, copies of the map reached Korea and Japan where they had significant intellectual impact.