地理知识与贸易拓展:17世纪荷兰东印度公司手稿地图上的南海

Geographical Knowledge and Trade Expansion:The South China Sea on Seventeenth Century Manuscript Charts of the Dutch East India Company

本文介绍一批17世纪中期的荷兰手稿地图,重点讨论荷兰东印度公司(VOC)制图师对南海地区的地图表现。从地图学史的角度,这批地图具有如下特征:首先,它们沿袭“波图兰”(portolan)海图的风格;其次,较之16世纪的葡萄牙人地图,在精确性上有了极大提高;第三,部分地图上的船只航迹和水深数据显示荷兰东印度公司船只曾进行过水文调查;第四,荷兰人在葡萄牙人地图上的“帕拉塞尔”(I.Pracel)的右边或更远离海岸的位置,绘制了一组呈三角分布的浅滩,称之为“普鲁伊斯浅滩”(pruijs drooghten),它所表现的正是西沙群岛。本文认为,荷兰东印度公司在拓展东南亚和东亚贸易网络的过程中,也取得了地理知识上的巨大进步,地理知识与贸易拓展呈现出携手并进的态势;荷兰人的地图制作活动存在一个在手稿和印刷品(manuscript vs.print)平行发展、各有侧重的二元结构,17世纪荷兰人在地图学上的真实成就或被其繁复华丽的装饰性、消费型地图的商业成功所掩盖,实则有待于深入认识和进一步肯定。

This paper discusses a cluster of mid-seventeenth century manuscript charts,mainly prepared by Joan Blaeu and his partner Johannnes Vingboons,for the Dutch East India Company(VOC).Overall,these charts followed the traditional portolan style,but were significantly improved in terms of accuracy compared with earlier Portuguese charts of the same region.Sailing tracks and bathymetric data on some of the charts showed that Dutch ships conducted coastal reconnaissance and hydrographical surveys in the South China Sea.The marking of an unidentified‘pruijs drooghten’to the right side of the‘I.Pracel’and further away from the coast was a Dutch addition,probably based on an unknown discovery,which correctly represented the position of the veritable Xisha Islands.This paper argues that the Dutch were conducting remarkable geographical explorations while they pushed forward their trade networks in East and Southeast Asia.Trade and exploration were mutually benefiting each other.It is also argued that there was a dualism of‘manuscript vs.print’in the seventeenth century Dutch cartography,and map historians of this period should not be mislead by the refined and highly decorative Dutch-print maps and charts so as to overlook the manuscript charts,wherein the information of the latest geographical discoveries were to be found.