Luo Hongxian (羅洪先; 1504–1564) was a
Ming dynasty Chinese cartographer.
After passing the Imperial Examinations with the rank of jinshi in 1529, Luo worked as a senior compiler at the Hanlin Academy. He was a student of the philosophies of the Neo-Confucian Wang Yangming. Hearing of raids by wokou pirates on China's south-eastern shores, he began collating cartographical information for the Ming government, spending three years in research. During this period, he discovered the Yutu (Terrestrial Map), an atlas of China created by Zhu Siben during the Yuan dynasty some 300 years earlier, which he adapted and expanded to create his Guang yu tu 廣與圖 (Enlarged territorial atlas), a work that covered the entire country. It was first published in 1561, and remained the principal reference work in Chinese cartography until the 17th century. Martino Martini, an Italian Jesuit in China, drew his own Novus Atlas Sinensis (based on the Guang yu tu), which was published in Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu in 1655. Martini's map remained the standard European view of China until 1737, when Jean Baptiste d'Anville published his Atlas de la Chine.
Luo's maps and geographical knowledge were put to use in the defense of the coast, and he was offered several government posts as a result; he declined these offers.
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羅洪先（1504年11月14日 - 1564年9月19日），字
達夫，號
念菴。江西吉安府吉水黃橙溪（今吉水縣谷村）人。
明代狀元、學者、地理製圖學家，江右學派代表人物。
Read more...: 生平 著作 家族
生平
羅洪先自幼端重，不為嬉戲，嘉靖八年（1529年）成已醜科一甲一名進士（狀元），授翰林院修撰。十八年（1539年），官至春坊左贊善，明世宗迷信道教，次年冬與司諫唐順之、校書趙時春等見朝政日非，聯名上《東宮朝賀疏》，被撤職。自謂「丈夫事業，更有許大在。此等三年遞一人，奚足為大事也。」嘉靖四十三年（1564），去世。詔贈光祿少卿，謚文恭。
著作
羅洪先於天文、地理、禮樂、典章、水利、邊塞、戰陣、攻守、陰陽、術數、無不精心探究，他將朱思本《輿地圖》加以改繪，取名《廣輿圖》。性好佛，一說晚年在鼓山出家，法號念庵，有《醒世詩》。著有《念庵集》22卷、《冬遊記》等。
據考證，羅洪先亦為中國術數《紫微斗數》的發現者，紫微斗數在不同的古本中，皆尊陳希夷為創術人，在現存可證得的古本《紫微斗數全書》，為羅洪先於華山訪道時自希夷道長第十八代孫處所取得由希夷尊師著作之《紫微斗數全書》，並著以序之。
家族
曾祖羅良，曾任衛經歷；祖父羅玉，贈兵部員外郎；父羅循，曾任按察司副使。母李氏（加封宜人）。
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