62 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



coast, the Ganges River, India intra Gangem, India 

 extra Gangem, the Magnus Sinus, Taprobana Insula, 

 the Aurea Chersonesus, the Indicum Mare, and 

 Cattigara are places of importance (Fig. 3 and PI. II). 

 With this our concern for southern Asia stops. 



Ptolemy did not interpret his information con- 

 cerning Asia in such a way as to allow for an eastern 

 coast within the limits of the known world. ^^ in- 

 stead, he understood that the coast line turned 

 southwards to form a Magnus Sinus (China Sea). 

 The eastern coast of the Magnus Sinus with the 

 Terra Incognita joined the African coast, making a 

 landlocked sea of the Indicum Mare (Fig. 3). 



In the Middle Ages additional information brought 

 back by traders and tra\^elers gave positive knowl- 

 edge of the eastern coast of Asia. Of a number of 

 these travelers Marco Polo is the best known; and 

 from his account several prominent features of the 

 eastern Asiatic coast were derived. ^^ These are 

 reflected in the representation of this region on the 

 Behaim globe^'* (Fig. 4) . Cipangu was a great island 

 situated 1500 miles eastward from Mangi. What 

 we call China was divided into two parts: the 

 northern, called Cathay; the southern, Mangi. Mangi 



12 G. E. Gerini: Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia 

 (Further India and Indo-Malay Archipelago), Asiatic Society Mono- 

 graphs No. I, London, 1909, pp. 25, 302-304, and map at end of volume. 



13 vSir Henry Yule, trans, and edit. : The Book of Ser Marco Polo the 

 Venetian Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, 3rd edit., 

 revised ... by Henri Cordier, 2 vols., London, 1903; reference in 

 Vol. 2, pp. 253-298. 



" Ravenstein, op. cit.. Map 2. 



