地图何为?东西方早期的空间描绘

Who Invented the Map?Some General Thoughts on the Most Ancient Space Representations from West and East

本文通过对比东西方文明在地理学与制图学领域的共性和特性,来解释其产生的文化背景,以及早期的交流与接触。首先,考察两个文明关于陆地和宇宙空间特征的表示方法,即它们是如何实现相似的地图描绘。其次,阐释古希腊"地理学"的独创性及早期的世界地图。最后,通过对中国传统地图的分析发现,古代中国可以在不考虑地球为球体的条件下绘制地图,主要依托于比例尺进行绘制,同时使用网格法量化地理上的尺度。这种方法在14世纪通过阿拉伯人传入欧洲,进而被用于西方地图的绘制。当然,网格法也根据欧洲人的需要,被改造并赋予了新的意义。无论在东方还是西方,试图掌握时间和空间都是人们绘制地图最主要的原因。

This article explains the cultural background of these characteris-ties by comparing the commonness and characteristics of two civilizations on their knowledge about the world and their own cartographic traditions,as well as some early exchanges and contacts.First,we will look at the most ancient representa-tions of terrestrial and cosmic spaces in the two civilizations and we will observe how they could arrive,most probably independently,without being in contact one with each other,to some cartographic shapes,which can be compared.In the second part of the article,we will explain the originality of the Greek"geogra-phy",and the information about China allowed Ptolemy to calculate the coordi-nates of the first detailed world map known in the West.In the last part of this ar-ticle,we will discuss the most famous Chinese ancient traditional maps:we notice that they correspond to a method that could establish maps without taking into con-sideration the sphericity of the Earth.The Chinese maps are drawn following a scale.An Arabic intermediary introduced the grid,which is a direct sign of this scale,in the Latin western cartography in the 14th century.Like any real"cultur-al transfer",the use of the grid is different,having a new meaning,which corre-sponded to the needs of the Europeans.The mastery of the space-time is in fact the last and universal reason for inventing maps no matter in the East or the West.