Mappæ Mundi
The Kangnido
The Korean map that saw farther than the West.
- Map
- Honil Gangni Yeokdae Gukdo Ji Do
- Mapmaker
- Yi Hoe & Kwon Kun (Joseon Korea)
- Date
- 1402
- Held by
- Joseon dynasty (early copies in Japan)
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
$29.00
The story
In 1402, Korean scholars drew a map of the world that stretched from Japan to Europe and Africa — and showed the tip of Africa as a cape you could sail around, generations before a European ship proved it. China looms vast at the centre, Korea is drawn large and proud, and the Mediterranean and Arab worlds trail off to the west. One of the oldest surviving maps of the whole world from East Asia, and a reminder that the West held no monopoly on knowing the Earth's shape.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of a public-domain map held by Joseon dynasty (early copies in Japan) — the work is centuries out of copyright.
- Printed to order on archival cotton-rag or textured laid stock, pigment inks rated 100+ years.
- Color-managed to the source scan; we correct nothing and invent nothing.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed and linen-backed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Why our maps cost more than a poster: we print from the highest-resolution scans in existence, at sizes where the engraving itself becomes visible — the sea monsters, the tiny place-names, the burin lines — on stock made to outlive its owner.
