The Oldest Map of Africa

The Great Ming Amalgamated Map, or Da Ming Hun Yi Tu (Chinese: 大明混一圖; pinyin: dàmíng hùnyī tú, Manchu: dai ming gurun-i uherilehe nirugan) world map, was created in China about 1390. It was painted in colour on stiff silk and 386 x 456cm in size. The original text was written in Classical Chinese, but Manchu labels were later superimposed. It is one of the oldest surviving world maps from East Asia, although the exact date of creation remains unknown. It depicts the general form of the Old World, placing China in the center and stretching northward to Mongolia, southward to Java, eastward to central Japan, and westward to Africa and Europe. It is considered the oldest map of the African continent, and may have been a copy of a map sculpted into rock.

The map is preserved in the First Historical Archive of China, Beijing.