A hand-coloured atlas map of China, Korea, and Japan showing provincial boundaries, rivers, mountains, cities, latitude and longitude, and a decorative title cartouche.

1655 · Hand-coloured engraved atlas map

Imperii Sinarum nova descriptio

Martino Martini; published by Joan Blaeu

Why it matters

The first European atlas devoted to China translated Chinese maps and geographic texts into a Dutch atlas system. Its general and provincial sheets made the empire appear internally ordered, comparable, and administratively knowable.

Publication
Novus Atlas Sinensis
Holding institution
Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
Shelfmark
G2305 .M3 1655
Rights
Public-domain work; Library of Congress digital collection free to use and reuse

Martini, Martino, and Joan Blaeu. Imperii Sinarum nova descriptio, in Novus Atlas Sinensis. Amsterdam, 1655. Library of Congress, G2305 .M3 1655.