Until now, there have been many versions of Chinese historical maps in ancient and modern China and abroad. In these maps, territory of Qing Dynasty is probably drawn in same way, but for territory of Ming Dynasty, everyone also has very different drawing methods. Some paintings of Ming Dynasty territory exceeded 10 million square kilometers, while others had an area of ​​only more than 3 million square kilometers.

First, let's look at Tan Qixiang's version of Ming Dynasty map. The Ming Dynasty Map by Tan Qixiang is a model of a "border-opening map". He deliberately chose Ming dynasty in 1433, which has ulterior motives. Because this year Nuergan Dusi was not recalled, but chief envoy of Cochin was recalled. Thus, it is possible to bring state closer to peak of Ming dynasty, and it is not necessary to include Vietnam in order to care about feelings of international friends. There are two main problems with Tan Qixiang's Ming Dynasty territory: firstly, northeastern region is not limited, which is not common sense, and secondly, entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is included in territory of Ming Dynasty. posted.

Map of Ming Dynasty by Tan Qixian

Tan Qixiang's version of Ming dynasty map has become Ming dynasty map widely used in high school history, but it should also be noted that map in high school history made a slight modification to Tan Qixiang's map, that is, Taiwan was included in Ming dynasty map. Taiwan is an integral part of China, but until fall of Ming dynasty in 1644, Ming dynasty never established jurisdiction in Taiwan. Official documents of Ming Dynasty refer to Taiwan as "Little Liuqiu Country" and Zhu Yuanzhang also lists Xiao Liuqiu as one of 15 "unconquered countries".

According to Tan Qixiang's standards, as long as it is nominally canonized territory, it can be considered Ming Dynasty territory. So Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was drawn into territory. For this reason, many netizens also "expanded" Tang version of Ming Dynasty map according to this standard, and included so-called "three propaganda and six amenities" and old Hong Kong department of Xuanwei into territory of Ming Dynasty. However, Tang's version of "no ceiling" gave many netizens a lot of imagination, so they directly painted Ming version on coast of the Arctic Ocean. These cards can only become a joke.

Map of Ming Dynasty by Mingfen

The Ming Dynasty as seen by Mingfen

In addition, textbooks in Hong Kong and Taiwan have also been influenced by Tan version map to a certain extent, but they dare not inherit "unlimited" atmosphere of Tan version, so some changes have been made to Tan version map. . The Hong Kong version clearly distinguishes between territory and sphere of influence.

Hong Kong version of Ming Dynasty

Taiwan version of Ming Dynasty map

The Ming Dynasty Territory, as drawn by United States in 1424, is territory of peak period of Ming Dynasty and does not include Mongolia and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. I agree with this point. There are also Nuerganduxi and Commander-in-Chief Jiaozhi in picture, but Nuerganduxi's jurisdiction only covers eastern part of northeast, I don't know on what basis. According to historical records, Nuerganduxi area "borders sea to east, Wuliangkhoi to west, North Korea to south, and Nuergang Beihai to north", indicating that it must include the entire northeast.

American version of Ming Peak Map

The Russian version of Ming Dynasty map amazed Ming Fan. On map, Ming dynasty was limited to hinterland and Liaodong. Regimes such as Mongolia, Eastern Chagatai Khanate, Tubo and North Korea also exist in vicinity. However, Russian version of this map is very biased, because scale of Mongolia in picture is too small, and northernmost part of Mongolia at that time should have reached Lake Baikal. Later, Russia invaded east and occupied lands of Buryat-Mongols here. On map of Russia, Taiwan belongs to Ming Dynasty.

Russian version of Ming Dynasty map

Let's take a look at Korean version of Ming Dynasty map. Koreans are also welcome. The map of Ming Dynasty shows northeast region and region of Vietnam, which shows that this is a map of Yongle period, which is also territory of peak period of Ming Dynasty. And there is no Tubo region on map that did not belong to Ming Dynasty. But at its peak, Ming Dynasty controlled territory of Hetao, which is not shown on this map, which is incorrect. The Korean version of map has island of Taiwan.

The Japanese version of Ming Dynasty map is similar to American one. However, map of Japanese painting during heyday of Ming Dynasty did not include Jiaozhi, and northwest reached a maximum of Jiayuguan. However, Japan did not bring Sakhalin Island under Nuergandu's jurisdiction, reflecting Japanese ulterior motives.

Due to some problems with maps of main official versions, it is now difficult to obtain an exquisite and objective map of Ming Dynasty. Therefore, editor here selects some maps from peak period of Ming Dynasty, which may not look elegant, but are very objective. The first is a map of Ming Dynasty by Gu Jiegang. This map was published in 1955 which is quite old. Judging by this map, there are still some problems, such as Taiwan. However, Gu Jiegang withstood political pressure at time and marked Ming Dynasty in dark yellow and Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence in light color. The Hong Kong version also referred to this map.

What I like most is map of Ming Dynasty made by a netizen called "Menchi Dudu" on Internet. His maps are detailed and objective, but not polished enough. He made maps of various periods of Ming Dynasty, which can be used as a reference to clearly see changes in territory of Ming Dynasty. At same time, he used dark and light colors to indicate administrative jurisdictions and spheres of influence, which is worth learning from.

I've seen best map of peak period of Ming Dynasty

Based on above, territory of Ming Dynasty was basically limited to two capitals and eighteen provinces, but at peak of Ming Dynasty, Nuer Gandusi, Kansai Seven Guards, and Outer Chiefs of Yunnan were all in sphere of influence. As for Mongolian, Eastern Chagatai and Uzbek ministries, they are outside sphere of influence. If territory of Ming Dynasty at its peak was about 4 million square kilometers, then plus sphere of influence would be almost 7 million square kilometers.