East Asia Discovers the World: Cartographic Encounters from the Mongols to Meiji

Catalog description

Before the modern era, how did curious people in China, Korea, and Japan learn about the world? How did geographical information reach them, and how did they interpret it? This class will probe the history of cartographic exchange from the Mongols to Meiji from an East Asian perspective. Every Tuesday, we will examine East Asian maps; Thursday readings will introduce broader comparative perspectives. This course is part of the Humanities Core, a collaborative humanities seminar cluster. On Tuesdays we meet in our own course, while on Thursdays we will gather with two other HumCore classes for joint Plenary Sessions.