"L'Asie", Sanson, Nicolas

This map of Asia is small but important in the cartographic development of the region. It diverges from Sanson's folio map of 1650 in the appearance of a new landmass to the north of Japan labeled Terre de Iesso, Yezo ou Sesso. Sanson's depiction of this region is a combination of the reports of recent Dutch discoveries by De Vries and speculations of De Gama's discovery of a large landmass in the north Pacific. Japan is shown based on Jesuit sources and Korea is a globular-shaped island. Arabia marks a radical departure from earlier representations of the peninsula, omitting a lake in the southwest corner.

References: Yeo #46.

Condition: A+