Open QuestionsWhat an ancient Chinese map reveals about global history and modern power: Sheng-Wei Wang
Kunyu Wanguo Quantu and maritime artefacts prove China explored the world earlier than Eurocentric accounts suggest, scholar argues
Scholar and author Sheng-Wei Wang discusses how studying an ancient Chinese world map led her to conclude China explored and mapped the world before the European Age of Discovery and how the legacy of colonialism and a Eurocentric record of global history continue to affect power dynamics today.
What first made you suspect that it was Chinese explorers and not Europeans who launched the true Age of Discovery?
The European Age of Discovery followed Christopher Columbus’ landing in the Americas, which occurred in 1492. However, many of the European maps in that period, or even before that, already showed places that the Europeans had not yet explored.