Professor Barbieri Creates Interactive Map of 15th Century Indian Ocean World

For my online History 80 (Chinese Civilization) Course, I have created an interactive version of the famous map found in the Wubeizhi (preface, 1621), but which was based on the knowledge brought back by Zheng He on his 7 voyages throughout the Indian Ocean for the Ming Emperors (1405-1433).  It records the place names and sailing directions for traveling from the Ming capital in Nanjing to the East Coast of Africa, including South China, Southeast Asia, India, and the Persian Gulf.

You can scroll the map by dragging, or click an area to zoom in. There is an overview at the top which highlights the area you are viewing. I have hyperlinked over 100 place names so far.  Hover the mouse of the red box to see a translation of the location, or click to bring up a window with Google Maps, showing the modern place.  There is also a drop-down menu at the lower right, and manual controls at the bottom. (Also works on mobile phones and iPads, no Flash required).

Currently, I have only added hyperlinks for China (from Nanjing to Fuzhou), the Middle East and East Africa.  I hope to add links for Southeast Asia and India later this summer.

Click HERE:to try it.

For video instructions, click HERE.