上文的馬可孛羅美洲地圖來自美國國會圖書館。搜索圖書館的地圖網(wǎng)站，有一段敘述，認為馬可孛羅的美洲地圖可能是偽造的。有些引文是來自MapHist（地圖歷史網(wǎng)），就是我前面提到的明年要關(guān)閉的網(wǎng)站。美國國會圖書館針對偽造地圖有專頁：
http://www.maphistory.info/fakesnotes.html#chinese
列出的偽造地圖里包括Ortelius1570世界地圖，被認為利瑪竇繪制《坤輿萬國全圖》的主要參考。而指出偽造地圖的文章，很多出自要關(guān)閉的MapHist網(wǎng)，真假難分，越弄越糊涂了?，F(xiàn)在從美國國會圖書館這網(wǎng)頁的鏈接，指向MapHist的文章，已經(jīng)不存在。該網(wǎng)站是西方地圖學(xué)歷史的權(quán)威網(wǎng)站，參與者是西方地圖學(xué)的重要人物，建站的是西方地圖學(xué)中心--荷蘭，美國國會圖書館引用很多它的文章。假如他們的學(xué)說真是正確、經(jīng)典的話，該網(wǎng)站是不會關(guān)閉的。對西方地圖學(xué)和有關(guān)地理歷史考證，不能隨便相信。這也是我說的，以西方為中心的地理大發(fā)現(xiàn)歷史觀，隨著地圖學(xué)的漏洞，在《坤輿萬國全圖解密》出版后，將受到嚴重挑戰(zhàn)。
這是極其重大的科學(xué)新聞，也是中外交通史翻案的重大新聞。
以下為美國國會圖書館的網(wǎng)頁，關(guān)于馬可孛羅地圖的一段。John Hessler 是 地圖學(xué)的權(quán)威。
Rossi Map Collection
( MapHist references added January 2009 & October 2011)
Comprising five maps, of which the best known is a small map of Northeast Asia (known as the'Map with Ship'). [For brief descriptions of the other maps see Bagrow and Olshin.]
The 'Map with Ship' was donated to the Library of Congress by Marcian F. Rossi (G7800 coll. M3 copy 1, Marcian F. Rossi Collection). The original group comprised about 15 documents, the remainder of which are now with a private collector in Texas. They were first noted in 1933, according to Bagrow.
The maps are in Latin and Italian, with some Chinese ideograms, and some 'characters resembling Arabic'. No conclusive results have yet been published of any scientific or palaeographical tests, but John Hessler is sharing his initial findings about the analysis that is currently [January 2009] being undertaken at the Library of Congress.
References:
Did Marco Polo "Discover" America? Maps attributed to the 13th-century traveler sketch what looks like the coast of Alaska (a piece by Ariel Sabar for the Smithsonian Magazine, October 2014). This is a trailer for a book due out in November 2014 from the University of Chicago Press: Benjamin B. Olshin, The Mysteries of the Marco Polo Maps.
John W. Hessler, 'Sketching the Unknown: A Phenomenological and Computational Study of the Rossi "Map With Ship"' (on his blog, Warping History: Mathematical Methods in Historical Cartometry, 31 December 2008 - 'A recent C-14 dating of the vellum yielded two age distributions both after 1475 ... In conclusion we have shown that the Rossi "Map With Ship" has no internal or geometric inconsistencies that would lead us to believe that it was definitively copied from a modern map').
The question of the nature of the projection on the 'Map with a Ship', if there was one, led to a flurry of messages in January 2009 on MapHist - look for 'Rossi', 'Projections' and 'Projectionless' - though much of this was polemical and not about the map in question.
John W. Hessler, messages to the MapHist list, both with heading 'Cartographic Fakes, Tony Campbell, etc.', on 31 January 2008 and 4 February 2008 [about progress with the scientific testing of the maps, to throw light on their date(s) and to retrieve unreadable sections].
Gunnar Thompson, one from a series of messages to the MapHist list from January 2008 onwards, in this case on 4 February 2008, discussing, under the section 'Dating the Map With Ship', his earlier efforts to obtain a radiocarbon dating. [To get round the lack of word-wrapping, paste the text into another document.] On 25 September 2011 Gunnar Thompson returned to the issue, asserting the authenticity of this group of maps, in a message: 'Marco Polo New World Maps--Authentic'. See also two follow-up messages under the heading: 'Brief Comment Concerning: [MapHist] Marco Polo New World Maps--Authentic'.
Benjamin B. Olshin, 'The Mystery of the ‘Marco Polo’ Maps: An Introduction to a Privately-Held Collection of Cartographic Materials Relating to the Polo Family', Terrae Incognitae, 39 (2007): 1-23
Benjamin B. Olshin, abstract of a paper delivered at the 2006 annual meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries, 'From Northeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest: "Marco Polo" Maps and Myths'.
Benjamin B. Olshin, message to MapHist on 24 April 2006, 'Gavin Menzies / Gunnar Thompson / "Map with Ship"'.
Leo Bagrow, 'Maps from the Home Archives of the Descendants of a Friend of Marco Polo', Imago Mundi, 5 (1948), pp. 3-13 (reproducing the five maps on a fold-out page preceding the article). [Comment from Bagrow about that article in editorial (p.2) in that same issue that 'he has received conservative opinions from many experts'.] Private subscribers to Imago Mundi, and those with institutional access, can get that article viaJSTOR.
Online scan:
Library of Congress, 'American Memory': [Map of the Far East and adjacent Pacific] (also known as 'Map-with-ship'). [A brief description accompanying a JPEG2000 scan enlargeable to high resolution - added 22 February 2008].
