It seems
to me that the evidence of this map points to the existence
in very ancient times of a worldwide civilization, the mapmakers
of which mapped virtually the entire globe with a uniform general
level of technology, with similar methods, equal knowledge of
mathematics, and probably the same sorts of instruments. I regard
this Chinese map as the capstone of the structure I have erected
in this book. For me it settles the question as to whether the
ancient culture that penetrated Antarctica, and originated all
the ancient western maps, was indeed worldwide (see also 135a).
