Syncretic Spatial Considerations in an Early–Nineteenth Century Chinese Maritime Chart

An unusual Chinese manuscript maritime chart from the MacLean Collection Map Library, likely dated to the first decade of the nineteenth century during the Qing dynasty, combines several data sets that align specific terrestrial and celestial coordinates that lead to specific destinations, all within the western Pacific region. This chart presents four different manners of orientation for the small ship depicted in the center that we are meant to imagine riding on board; one color coded, one directional/temporal, one celestial, and the other geo-spatial. If the viewer has a clear sense of a circle around the ship they can orient themselves to generally visualize the course to a particular destination. This essay will unpack how this possibly unique Chinese maritime chart functions as a cartographic object as well as how it participates in Chinese historical and cartographic practices of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries.