Francesco Sambiasi, a Missing Link in European Map Making in China?

This article describes and analyzes a world map of the Jesuit Francis Sambiasi preserved at the Library of the University of Ghent. In the essay compares the different copies of the map, provides a biography of the author and are hypothesized Chinese and Western sources. This article Describes and analyzes one world map made by the Jesuit missionary Francis Sambiasi, Which is kept in Ghent University Library. The work contains a comparison between the extant copies of the map, it Gives a biography of the author and some hypotesis about the possible Chinese and Western sources.

When the Jesuit missionaries began to work in China, they attracted the attention of the Chinese by introducing European knowledge. This is the context in which Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci, Giulio Aleni, Francesco Sambiasi and Ferdinand Verbiest made their Chinese-language world maps. Sambiasi was a man of many talents. He was a tactful diplomat and a learned scientist. His world map shows him to be a skilful adapter of earlier knowledge, which he passed on to future generations. The six known copies of his map are in two versions, printed from two sets of wood blocks (c. 1639). A text at the top of one version explains why the world must be seen as a sphere, which demonstrates how these maps were meant to convince the Chinese public of European scientific findings.