Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions between China and India [Hardcover]

Thomas Suarez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1999

Early Mapping of Southeast Asia follows the story of mapmaking, exploration and colonization in Asia from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It surveys Southeast Asia's geography and civilizations, its maps and their influence on Western worldviews, as well as the image of Southeast Asia in the eyes of its neighbors.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Map expert Su rez (Shedding the Veil), who has served as a curator for map exhibits at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC, has assembled a fascinating corpus of period maps to illustrate the use of cartography by Europeans in their exploration, interpretation, and subsequent colonization of Southeast Asia from the 16th to the 19th centuries. For the purpose of this study, Southeast Asia is defined as mainland areas east of the Ganges River, through Burma, Thailand, Indochina, and the Malay Peninsula as well as the insular region from the Nicobar and Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The authoritative text includes informative references to notable cartographers and explorers readily accessible through the index. Although the emphasis is on European maps, one chapter is entirely devoted to Asian maps of Southeast Asia. This unusual but handsome resource (of the 120 illustrations, 50 are reproduced in full color) is recommended for all public and academic libraries, particularly those with extensive cartographic or Asian history collections.
-Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A fascinating corpus of period maps." -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Periplus Editions; Hardcover with Jacket edition (November 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9625934707
• ISBN-13: 978-9625934709
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,173,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for students of cartography and Asian history., February 3, 2000

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions between China and India (Hardcover)

Black and white and color maps accompany extensive text references in this survey of early maps of Southeast Asia. While this might prove a very specific guide for Asian collections, cartography and art libraries will also want to consider its value: Suarez provides an excellent history of the region and its geographical importance, examining the history of its representation and exploration.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The expansion of the world, from the other side, November 23, 2006

By 

Harry Eagar (Maui) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions between China and India (Hardcover)

The idea that we live in an "information economy" is much less of a novelty than the computer geeks and business gurus would have it. For proof, consider "The Early Mapping of Southeast Asia," a history of economics, ideology and adventure masquerading as a gorgeous coffee table book.
The key piece of information was the route to the fabulously (and actually) rich Spice Islands. The story of how Europe evaded the Moslem blockade and reached both India and the undiscovered Americas in the 1490s has been often told. Seldom, however, has the Europe-Southeast Asia story been told from such a comprehensive viewpoint as Thomas Suarez'.
He starts at the very beginning. At a time Christian maps showed a simple T inside an O to divide the three continents, several Southeast Asian societies were drawing their own maps inspired by religious cosmology.
The Thais called these maps of the universe cakkavala, but other peoples had something similar. At the center, instead of Jerusalem, was Mount Sumeru, the link between earth and heaven.
In Europe, Ptolemy speculated that Africa curved around to meet the Asian mainland, which would have made the Indian Ocean into a closed sea like the Mediterranean. As a result, for centuries no one considered traveling around Africa to the Spiceries. (It appears no one considered whether the outside of this mythical barrier might have been worthwhile to reach.)
Ptolemy's barrier had its skeptics, and some correct information was available in Europe, primarily itineraries (like Marco Polo's) rather than maps. But it proved difficult to separate the reliable from the misconceived.
As Suarez shows, Europeans eventually figured out that there were two big peninsulas jutting south from Asia, India and Southeast Asia.
But because of confusion, which only increased when Columbus discovered the Americas, some geographers decided there were three peninsulas. Others moved Asian cities as far as the coast of Peru.
It didn't help that Columbus struck the biggest concentration of islands in the New World. Europeans already knew Southeast Asia was full of islands. So for quite a while, the West Indies were believed to be the East Indies.
Until the Portuguese actually got there around 1500, Europeans were sadly mistaken about even the biggest features of Southeast Asian geography. For centuries, Ceylon and Sumatra were confused, and some mapmakers doubted the existence of Java.
However, once the science-minded Europeans arrived, the situation cleared up dramatically. In about a century the major questions were resolved. During the same period -- 1500 to the late 1600s, printed maps started replacing manuscript charts. (Most old maps and prints that survive today were bound in books or atlases. Loose sheets tended to be destroyed.)
From an early date, some Southeast Asian kings took a sophisticated interest in Western mapping, but many of them held a completely different idea of political boundaries.
In an odd twist, the sovereigns in Thailand, especially, took up modern scientific mapping as a defense against British expansionism through Burma in the 19th century.
The local kings, says Suarez, did not have a concept of definite political borders. Big states exercised decreasing levels of control over more and more distant dependencies, signified by more or less regular payments of tribute, not lines on paper.
If the locals were puzzled by the strange habits of the British, they learned quickly.
Suarez says it was a mistake on the European maps that helped Thailand evade colonial conquest until the Japanese came in 1942. Because longitudes were uncertain, both the British and the French thought Thailand was much narrower, east to west, than it really is. So small, it was not worth conquering.
"Early Mapping of Southeast Asia" is both an eye-popping and an eye-opening book. It has lots of maps, many in color; and lots of curious adventures, surprising discoveries and seldom-heard tales from the eastern side of the east-west divide.
It has a splendid companion, 'The Early Mapping of the Pacific,' which I have also reviewed.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seems Bigger and Better, March 8, 2010

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Howard A. Daniel III (Deltaville, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions between China and India (Hardcover)

After it arrived, I realized I already owned a previous printing of this book. I have not had time to dig out the earlier printing but this new one seems to be bigger and better. I collect maps of Southeast Asia and this book reminds me of some other maps I would like to find and purchase.