Making Asia: A History in Maps

Using ancient maps as both a medium and a source, this book explores the circumstances we call “modernity” through the emergence, development, transformation, and eventual establishment of East Asia’s shape on maps. In other words, it traces “time” as it is deeply embedded in representations of “space.” More importantly, the book examines how different forms of power, including capitalism, territorial states, colonialism, and imperialism, were represented and expressed through maps in the “early modern” period. What role did East Asia play at this pivotal moment in history? And what was its relationship with the so-called “West”?

Using ancient maps as visual material, the book brings history to life by looking at and discussing the maps. In vivid, straightforward prose, it introduces general readers to engaging, cutting-edge academic ideas.