Teixeira’s map of Japan (Japoniae Insvlae Descriptio) represents a compilation of Portuguese and Japanese information in which the latter dominates, primarily that obtained in Gyogi-type maps. This presentation outlines direct or indirect usage of East Asian sources of the visual representation of Japan in the European maps and to reveal characteristic features of the archipelago’s representation when European mapmakers got an opportunity to be acquainted with Japanese maps and measure the islands directly such was the case of maps made by Ignacio Moreira (1538/39-?), Luis Teixeira (1564-1604). ![]() A turning point in representation of Japan came with the Portuguese, who maintained the closest connections with the island kingdom in the early period of European acquaintance with it. Later, the Europeans mapping East Asia seemed to have use the representation of Japan from Chinese maps, with the background of the earliest depictions of the archipelago as a single island descending from them. Japan first became known to the Europeans at the close of the 13th century through the account of Marco Polo who described it as a single island. Although the first separate map of Japan appeared only in the 1595 edition of the atlas, the country was depicted on the maps of the world or regions starting with the first edition. ![]() ![]() First published in 1570, Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is commonly considered the first modern atlas.
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