Page "Cathay" Paragraph 28

The last nail into the coffin of the idea of there being a Cathay as a country separate from China was, perhaps, driven in 1654, when the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius met with the China-based Jesuit Martino Martini, who was passing through Leyden.

Golius knew no Chinese, but he was familiar with Zij-i Ilkhani, a work by the Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, completed in 1272, in which he described the Chinese (" Cathayan ") Calendar.

Upon meeting Martini, Golius started reciting the names of the 12 divisions into which, according to Nasir al-Din, the " Cathayans " were dividing the day-and Martini, who of course knew no Persian, was able to continue the list.

The names of the 24 solar terms matched as well.

The story, soon published by Martini in the " Additamentum " to his Atlas of China, seemed to have finally convinced most European scholars that China and Cathay were the same.