{"id":217430,"date":"2025-06-13T12:06:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T22:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=217430"},"modified":"2025-06-16T10:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:50:23","slug":"rare-1478-southeast-asia-map-at-hamilton-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/13\/rare-1478-southeast-asia-map-at-hamilton-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare 1478 map of ancient Southeast Asia on display at Hamilton Library"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"ancient<\/p>\n

The University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa\u2019s Hamilton Library<\/a> has acquired a remarkable piece of history, one of the earliest printed maps of Southeast Asia, dating back to 1478<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The map comes from a rare Rome edition of Cosmographia<\/em> by Claudius Ptolemy, a geographer from ancient Alexandria whose ideas shaped how the world was visualized for centuries. This version is special for an additional reason. It was printed by Konrad Sweynheim, a 15th century German printer and engraver who pioneered copperplate printing in Italy.<\/p>\n

The map was purchased by the 糖心视频<\/abbr> Mānoa Center for Southeast Asian Studies<\/a> and gifted to the library.<\/p>\n

“The Center for Southeast Asian Studies is proud to support the Maps and Southeast Asia Collection in Hamilton Library through funding from the National Resource Center grant from the International Foreign Language and Area Studies Program in the U.S. Department of Education,” said Teri Skillman, associate director of CSEAS<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

Hamilton Library helped bring the map to life through high-resolution imaging that will allow students and researchers to study it in detail without touching the fragile original.<\/p>\n

“This is the oldest map in Hamilton Library and it enhances the already world-class Southeast Asia collection,” said Ted Kwok a geospatial librarian at Hamilton Library.<\/p>\n

Rome\u2019s finest maps<\/h2>\n

Sweynheim began work on the maps in 1474 and trained mathematicians to engrave copper plates, a process that would dominate Italian mapmaking for more than 100 years. Although he died before the atlas was published, his legacy lives on. The plates were completed by his colleague Arnold Buckinck, also known as Pannartz.<\/p>\n

Many historians consider the Rome edition to be the finest set of Ptolemaic maps produced before the rise of Gerard Mercator\u2019s world atlas in 1578.<\/p>\n

The map will be part of the library\u2019s Maps, Aerial Photographs and GIS<\/abbr><\/a> or MAGIS<\/abbr> collection, expanding 糖心视频<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s holdings in global historical geography.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The map is from a rare Rome edition of Cosmographia by Claudius Ptolemy, whose ancient ideas shaped world maps for centuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1562,163,207,128,9],"class_list":["post-217430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-center-for-southeast-asian-studies","tag-college-of-languages-linguistics-and-literature","tag-library","tag-manoa-library","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t