Hsieh's dissertation explored why the ancient Han dynasty was able to build the first large, enduring empire in China more than 2,000 years ago. “They’re a treasure for historical research,” says Kären Wigen, an East Asian historian at Stanford University.Ībout eight years ago, a Stanford graduate student named Meiyu Hsieh started asking around about some rumors she’d heard about mysterious stacks of old Asian maps amid the extensive archives of the Hoover Institution, a think tank that occupies a prominent tower on campus. Now, slowly, they’re starting to be rediscovered by scholars who are interested in using them to study the geopolitical and environmental history of Asia. The Army Map Service considered it unwise to hold such an important strategic resource at a single location that could be wiped out in a nuclear strike, so it distributed the maps to dozens of libraries and institutions scattered across the country.Īnd there they remained, virtually forgotten, for decades. To the Americans, they were a valuable source of intelligence, not just on a recently defeated foe, but also on a newly emerging one-the Soviet Union. To the Japanese, these maps are known as gaihōzu-maps of outer lands. It’s the kind of information that could be used to plan an invasion or an occupation, and some of it was gathered by spies operating behind enemy lines. They included detailed notes on climate, transportation systems, and the local people. The maps covered much of Asia, and they went far beyond the local topography. American soldiers confiscated thousands of secret Japanese military maps and the plates used to print them, then shipped them to the United States for safekeeping. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.These maps were captured in the waning days of World War II as the U.S.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating. How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war - here’s some of their most powerful work. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike farther behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. The weapons: Western supplies of weapons are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July.