Maps of Asia - Middle Ages

Middle Ages

In medieval T and O maps, Asia makes for half the world's landmass, with Africa and Europe accounting for a quarter each. With the High Middle Ages, Southwest and Central Asia receive better resolution in Muslim geography, and the 11th century map by Mahmud al-Kashgari is the first world map drawn from a Central Asian point of view. In the same period, European explorers of the Silk road like William Rubruck and Marco Polo increase geographical knowledge of Asia in the west, in particular establishing that the Caspian Sea is not connected to the northern ocean.

Chinese exploration by medieval times extends Chinese geographical knowledge to the Indian ocean, the Arabian peninsula and East Africa as well as Southeast Asia.