Jesuit Missions, Cartography, and Christianity in East Asia

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, maps, and concepts regarding Jesuit interactions and religious developments in Ming China and Tokugawa Japan.

Tianzhu

The Chinese term meaning 'Lord of Heaven' used by Matteo Ricci to translate God, aiming to show Chinese literati that Christianity was complementary to early Confucian philosophy.

Neo-Confucianism

A dominant Confucian philosophy during the Ming Dynasty whose scholars interpreted heaven (Tian) as an ultimate principle or impersonal force, a view Matteo Ricci criticized as leaning toward pantheism and atheism.

Complete Geographical Map of 10,000 Countries

A massive 1602 world map created by Matteo Ricci measuring 5.5 feet tall and 12 feet wide, which used an oval projection to combine Renaissance European astronomy and cartography with traditional Chinese textual annotations.

Terrestrial Sphere

The literal translation of the Chinese term introduced in Ricci's map introduction to designate a global earth resting within the cosmos.

Hui religion

The official Chinese name used to refer to Islam in China.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

The ruler who achieved military unification of Japan by 1590 and executed 26 Christians after suspecting that Christian missionary work was a prelude to European military conquest.

Tokugawa Shogunate

The military regime established in Japan in 1603 that unified the country, officially banned Christianity in 1612, restricted foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado by 1616, and expelled Portuguese and Spanish nationals in 1639.

Hidden Christians

Underground Christian communities in Japan who secretly practiced their faith without priests for over 250 years until their discovery by French missionaries in Nagasaki on March 17, 1865.