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Circling the Square: How Geometrical and Administrative Mapping Intersected in Seventeenth-Century Eurasia

Date
-
Event Sponsor
David Rumsey Map Center
History Department
Stanford University Libraries
Location
David Rumsey Map Center
557 Escondido Mall, Stanford, CA 94305

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In the historiography of East Asian cartography, maps produced by Jesuit missionaries to China have played a prominent role. It is often assumed that Jesuits successfully transmitted ‘scientific cartography’ from Europe to China, so that the question of the impact of their maps on cartography in East Asia has stood central in the literature. This talk problematizes this approach by reconstructing the intellectual, social, and material landscapes that informed the meeting of two vastly different modes of mapping.

The lecture will be given by distinguished map scholar Mario Cams, an Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at KU Leuven in Belgium, and the Kratter Visiting Professor in the Stanford History Department. Professor Cams is a historian of science who specializes in cartographic exchange between Europe and China in the 16th-17th centuries. He conducts research in multiple languages, including Chinese, Latin, French, German, and English, and he stresses the importance of social networks and physical objects in map history. 

This is an in-person event. Please register in advance to attend.

Please note that Professor Mario Cams will also be presenting a separate talk titled Stone, Paper, Silk: Yang Ziqi and the Topological Mapping of the Ming State on October 22. This event also requires an RSVP.