By Alastair Leithead BBC correspondent in Cape Town  found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2446907.stm 
Tuesday, 12 November, 2002

The Chinese map, covering more than 17 square meters, was produced in silk.

It is thought to be a copy of a map sculpted into rock 20 or 30 years earlier.

It is never been shown to the public before anywhere in the world, and the South African government was given special permission to take a full size facsimile of the delicate historical artwork.

The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, or Amalgamated Map of the Great Ming Empire, is a unique snapshot of history.

Created in China in 1389, and clearly showing the shape of Africa, more than 100 years before

Western explorers and map-makers reached the continent.

The full-size facsimile of the silk map forms the centrepiece of an exhibition, Perspectives on and of Africa, at the South African parliament.

Up to now, only a small number of people have been allowed to see the original.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Jinwala, said it was an important exhibit for South Africa.

"We're trying to illustrate perspective. There is no north or south in space," she said.

"It's a political decision that places the northern hemisphere on top of a globe and that collectively South Africans have to find their own perspective, and accept the validity of perspectives of others."

Organisers hope the exhibition challenges Western perspectives of Africa, of slavery and colonial exploitation.

It is using the Chinese map alongside South African rock art to illustrate the history of the continent before the time it was discovered by Europeans.

See more African Maps