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===Cartography=== [[Image:KangnidoMap.jpg|thumb|The [[Kangnido|Kangnido world map]] (1402).]] The [[Mongol Empire]] connected the European and western Islamic world with the Chinese sphere. It enabled the integration of a large amount of geographical knowledge. In 1286 [[Jamal ad-Din (astronomer)|Jamāl al-Dīn]] made [[Khubilai Khan]] a proposal for merging several maps of the empire into a single world map, and it resulted in the ''Tianxia Dili Zongtu'' (天下地理總圖; now lost). Since most of the official maps are lost, relatively new manuscripts of private, supposedly less accurate maps are known today. The most famous one is the ''[[Kangnido]]'' (1402), a Korean variant preserved in Japan. Like [[Istakhri]]'s and [[al-Idrisi]]'s, the Kangnido depicts Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe. The Kangnido also mentions a hundred European place names.<ref>Jackson, p.330</ref> [[Rashid al-Din]], the Jewish Prime Minister of Ghazan and later Oljeitu, wrote an extensive ''History of the Franks'' (1305/1306), probably based on information from [[Isol the Pisan]] or Dominican friars, providing much details on Europe's political organization, the use of ''mappae mundi'' by Italian mariners, and regnal chronologies derived from the chronicle of [[Martin of Opava]] (d. 1278).<ref>Jackson, p.329-330</ref> A Mongol embassy (documented in Chinese sources but not European ones) visited Europe in 1314-1320 and brought back geographical knowledge which was incorporated in a Chinese geographical treatise of the middle of the 14th century.<ref>Jackson, p.330</ref> Chinese maps produced in the 13th and 14th century do provide some information about Europe.<ref>Jackson, p. 330</ref> [[Image:FraMauroDetailedMapInverted.jpg|thumb|The 1453 [[Fra Mauro map]] may have been partly derived from a Chinese map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo.]] Conversely, in Europe the landmark 1459 [[Fra Mauro map]] is also said to have been partly based on a Chinese map. [[Ramusio]] explained that Fra Mauro's map is an improved copy of the world map brought from [[Cathay]] by [[Marco Polo]].<ref>"Dichiarazione d'alcuni luoghi ne' libri di messer Marco Polo, con l'istoria del reubarbaro", preface to Marco Polo's book. Quoted in "Fra Mauro's world map" Piero Falchetta, p61</ref>
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