Ancient map of China by Abraham Ortelius XVI Century.

Chinae, olim Sinarum Regionis, nova descriptio is a late-16th-century engraved map by Abraham Ortelius, presenting one of the earliest European cartographic representations of China. Drawing on Jesuit reports and classical sources, the map outlines provinces, rivers, and major cities while blending empirical geography with inherited myth and speculation. It reflects Renaissance Europe’s growing curiosity about East Asia and the effort to situate China within a global worldview.

Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) was a Flemish cartographer and humanist, celebrated as the creator of the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. His work unified geography, history, and scholarship, shaping how Europeans visualized the world beyond their borders. Ortelius’s maps remain foundational documents of early modern knowledge exchange and global imagination.