XXV Universal Descrittione dell Asia/ ASIA

Title

XXV Universal Descrittione dell Asia/ ASIA

Description

Map shows total Asia, from the Arabian peninsuala to partly Australia.

ca. 1580

Artist

Porcacchi/ Porro (1530-1585)

Girolamo Porro (c. 1520 - after 1604) was an Italian engraver on wood and on copper. He was born at Padua, but worked during the greater part of his life in Venice. He engraved for a book entitled Imprese illustri di diversi, published by Camillo Camilli in 1535. He also executed the plates for the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto, published at Venice in 1584 , for the Funerali antichi di diversi Popoli et Natione, by Tommaso Porcacchi, published in 1574; and the portraits for the Sommario delle Vite do' Duchi di Milano by Scipione Barbuo, 1574. The maps in Girolamo Ruscelli's translation of the Geographia of Ptolemy, 1574, and the maps in Porcacchi's Isole piu famose del Mondo, first published in 1572, are likewise by him.

Historical Description

In the first centuries after the turn of the times, Indian traders spread their culture over large parts of Southeast Asia. The Kingdom of Funan (200-550) in the Mekong Delta developed into the first center of Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia. It was replaced by the Khmer Kingdom and the Srivijaya Empire in Sumatra. 750 Borobodur was built on Java, a terraced temple complex of enormous size. The Khmer kings created an equally impressive work of art with the construction of their Angkor Wat temple complex. From the 9th century, the Tai migrated from the north to their present-day settlement areas and met the high-ranking Mon, whose culture they shaped. In 1044 the first Burmese Empire was founded with Bagan as the capital. In Southeast Asia, extensive trade had developed from the 6th to the 16th century, numerous shipwrecks testify to this development, such as that of the Lena Shoal junk. The ship types of the junk and the balangay were used for this trade. Two main routes of trade China on the one hand and Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula on the other hand could be determined. One route leads along the mainland and the second route along Borneo, Palawan to the island of Luzon. In the 15th century, Arab, Persian and Indian traders converted the Malays to Islam. The Muslim Malacca took the place of the Hindu kingdom Majapahit on Java. With the exception of Siam, all Southeast Asian countries were colonized from the 16th century. The background to colonization was the region's wealth of raw materials and spices, which were of particular value at the time. After the trade had been dominated by Arab traders for a long time, the European powers now fought over supremacy in the region. The Spaniards became active in the region at the same time and colonized with the aim of conquering China and converting to Christianity the Philippines, which they named after the Spanish King Philip II. The British came to Southeast Asia as the third major colonial power and also tried to establish themselves in the region. After initially holding an insignificant base in Indonesia, after negotiating with the local sultans, they reached control of the island of Penang and Singapore, which was then a small Malay fishing village. Together with the port city of Malacca, these areas formed the so-called Straits Settlements, the most important bases for the British in Southeast Asia.