Book Review: Terra Cognita -The Mental Discovery of America, by Eviatar Zeruvabel

Years ago, I had the opportunity to ask Magnus Fiskesjo, one of my thesis advisors at Cornell, about Gavin Menzies books on his alleged (and easily disproven) claims of the Chinese discovering America. Dr. Fiskesjo recommended I read this book instead, I did and found it quite interesting and encourage others to do so as well. Please note while I read the first edition, there is now a second edition of the book. (This essay was originally written as a review on . Amazon.com)

As we all know, Columbus was not aware in 1492 that he had landed on a new continent. Hence the lingering odd term "Indian." This work discusses in great detail the often ignored process, and it emphasizes process, of how and why and when Europeans began to realize that they had discovered an entire new continent (or two) that was completely unconnected with Asia.

The author is an Israeli geographer and does this in large part through discussions of period maps and a couple globes. (The work includes 31 plates of period maps showing how cartographers in Europe viewed the relationship between newly discovered areas of America and the rest of the world.) He emphasizes in great detail the need to look at varying definitions of terms like "continent," "discover," "North America," and so on.

A great deal of time is spent not only on explorers, be they Spanish, Italian, Viking, English or Russian (who approached North America from the West but were the first to truly prove it is not attached to Asia) over a period of many centuries, as well as the cartographers and writers in Europe who disseminated, analyzed, sorted, filtered and processed the new information that was being uncovered and tried to put it in a context. (In fact, this work was first recommended to me by a professor who recommended it as partial refutation of Gavin Menzies silly claims that the Chinese not only discovered America in 1421, but, somehow, instantly new what it was and then told Columbus.)

Best of all, the work is only 118 pages long, plus plates and footnotes, making it a relatively quick read.

It does provide a great deal of information on the context of actions that might otherwise have been missed. (i.e. Coronado was apparently searching for a mythical seven cities of gold, but was not sure how these cities related to the civilization of China and the spice areas of SE Asia, for instance, and thought there might be a connection between the two.)

History and the Current Uighur unrest in Xinjiang

 Note: I originally Wrote this a little over 9 years ago, and the situation is still the same if not worse. However the same historical roots apply. Again the causes and roots of the present lie in the past.


FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2009
Uighur and Xinjiang unrest
Look at this map. It's a map of China, right? More specifically it's a map of China during the warlord/ Republic of China era. See Xinjiang? Yes, Xinjiang. That obscure place where the Uighurs live, the place that's been in the news lately. It's up to the northwest on the map, far from the area where the Chinese political events described on the map, the important events of the era, took place. In fact, from a glance at the map one would suspect that Xinjiang is not part of China at all. And if you did, you'd probably be in agreement with most of the people who lived there during the period of history described on the map. 
             

The world, quite frankly, is a mess. It can get depressing. And, all you can do, in my opinion, is pick a cause here and there and work towards making it better.

But be forewarned, when you do, or even if you don't, then someone will bombard you with other causes and new problems.

For the last week or so I 've been bombarded with news of the Uighurs in Xinjiang and the unrest and discontent they express towards the Chinese government. No surprise there. Culturally the Uighurs, a central Asian Muslim people, have nothing in common with the Han Chinese majority. It is only an accident of history that made their homeland part of China. Furthermore, the Chinese have for decades been engaging in a systematic program to reduce Uighur influence in their homeland and more solidly integrate Xinjiang into China, its economy and its society. As part of this program, they have encouraged Han Chinese emigration to Xinjiang, and thereby consciously set out to make the Uighurs a minority in their own homeland.

It's not a nice thing to do. And it's understandably that the Uighurs react. (Just as they have over the centuries.There was a widespread uprising in this region in the 1880s, although in much of the early half of the twentieth century the area was independent. On, again, off-again, membership in the nation of China, with this being part of the result.)

And why mention it here? Well, it ties in nicely with my posts about Burma from a couple months ago.  [Note: I'll post this here eventually. If it takes too long for you, message me.]  If one looks at the map of Burma and Southeast Asia one will see that in the eighteenth century Burma and its neighbors had no borders. Instead it had a civilization and the influence of the civilization faded away the farther one got from the center and the farther out into the so-called "wilderness" you traveled. China's the same way. And Xinjiang, until the 1940s or so, was on the far fringe of its influence, an area that was sometimes in and sometimes out of the Chinese nation's sphere of influence. Again, just as in Burma, we have the same pattern of trying to rectify a modern border with a historical lack of a border and violence erupting on the area in the fringes.

Patterns repeat. Conditions vary. People get stuck in the middle. Its the way of the world.
POSTED BY PETER HUSTON AT 9:54 AM
LABELS: BURMA. UIGHURS., CHINA, CHINESE HISTORY