Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 1602 Japanese World Map Sign

Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (Chinese: 坤輿萬國全圖; pinyin: Kūnyú Wànguó Quántú; literally "A Map of the Myriad Countries of the World"; Italian: Carta Geografica Completa di tutti i Regni del Mondo, "Complete Geographical Map of all the Kingdoms of the World"), printed in China at the request of the Wanli Emperor during 1602 by the Italian Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci and Chinese collaborators, Mandarin Zhong Wentao and the technical translator, Li Zhizao, is the earliest known Chinese world map with the style of European maps. It has been referred to as the Impossible Black Tulip of Cartography, "because of its rarity, importance and exoticism". The map was crucial in expanding Chinese knowledge of the world. It was later exported to Japan and was influential there as well. This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less. Author Matteo Ricci