COMPARE the maps on pg. 377 and 379. How does the map on 377 reflect European knowledge, bias, and interests?

The two maps were made in completely different time periods in which world knowledge has changed so much. The first map was probably made about 500 years ago in Europe. Of course then there was not a lot of international geography understanding compared to what we know now. Europe is the central focus of the first map, and there are certain regions such as Australia and Antarctica that are completely left out. Also the shape of countries is nowhere near what we know the countries to be like today, for example on the West side of the map with the Americas. Europe did not have much information on America then and that is the reason for this main difference. The main difference between the maps is the accuracy, which explains the tremendous amount we have learned over the last 500 years. The other difference between the maps is that the first map shows cities and specific features in countries while the second map is just showing the four states that were most prominent in the Islamic world in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds.

THINK AND WRITE about what a Chinese map from the 16thcentury might look like. How about one drawn by Ottoman cartographers?

The purpose of a map is to assist any person in order to let them know about where tall mountains are, where there is a high population, or any piece of information relating to geography that will help the person know about a specific region based on what they need to know. In this case, most people from China would need to know about where the most fertile agriculture sits and the location of trade routes with other countries or regions. In terms of how advanced the map would be, I think it would be less advanced than the European map on page 377. I think that China at this point had less knowledge of geography internationally. However, similarly to the Europe map, the central focus would be China, which would be portrayed as the largest and most detailed country.

An Ottoman map would be even less advanced than the general Chinese map because at this point I believe Ottoman was not very familiar with the world outside their Empire. There could be a general place to show where the Safavid Empire is because Ottoman had experienced interaction with Safavid. However, other than that, I think the international side of an Ottoman map would be almost nonexistent.