In 1602 an Italian drew a world map for the Chinese — and moved the Pacific to the middle.
Matteo Ricci did it so China would sit near the centre of the world, as his readers expected.
The event
More amazing facts
- 1600 · 1601 Some scientists think the 1600 eruption of Peru's Huaynaputina caused the cooling behind Russia's Great Famine of 1601–1603, which helped spark the Time of Troubles.
- 1600 · 1826 Janissary officers had kitchen titles: a company commander was the çorbacı, the "soup server". The cauldron was sacred to the corps, and overturning it signalled revolt.
- 1601 · 1609 The most accurate pre-telescope sky survey came from a man who never looked through a telescope.
- 1602 · 1619 The Dutch East India Company issued the first shares ever traded on a stock exchange in 1602.
- 1603 · 1629 Kabuki, where men play every role, was invented by a woman.
- 1603 · 1721 Edo, the future Tokyo, had over a million people by the 1720s, one of the largest cities in the world.