MAPPING AND EXPLORATION

Abstract

One of the most influential transfers of geographic knowledge in world history occurred across Afro-Eurasia during the era of the Mongol Empire, which lasted from the thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century. Mongol rulers imposed a transcontinental peace dubbed the “Pax Mongolica” over a domain that stretched from Hungary to the Pacific, which encouraged an unprecedented flow of people, goods, and ideas across much of Afro-Eurasia. This chapter addresses the consequences of Afro-Eurasian connections during the Mongol era in world geographic knowledge, from both connective and comparative perspectives, by focusing on three regions: China, the Islamic Middle East, and Europe. Chinese ports played an important role in facilitating travel across Afro-Eurasia. Like China, the Islamic World experienced its most ambitious world-geographical projects under the auspices of Mongol rulers.