See this dialog response. The reports of the explorers of Ptolemaic Egypt resulted in the best maps of the region until the Portuguese era many centuries later. What came before?
A dialog between 2 people:
(1) What kind of sailing charts did Zheng He create?
(2) Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi.
(1) Did Zheng He use his sailing charts to map out the ocean?
(2) The Mao Kun Map covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa.
(1) Was Zheng He the first person to map the Indian Ocean?
(2) 