science

Lake Chimay

Lake Chimay is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lake Chimay rather than just read about it. In short: Lake Chimay or Chiamay, also known by numerous other names, was a fictitious lake or marsh which appeared in European maps of Asia throughout the Age of Discovery. Originating from accounts of Portuguese exploration of Indochina, it was believed to be an enormous lake about 1,100 kilometers (680 mi) inland from which several of the major rivers of Bangladesh, Burma, and Thailand flowed.

Key takeaways

Lake Chimay belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lake Chimay to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lake Chimay from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lake Chimay or Chiamay, also known by numerous other names, was a fictitious lake or marsh which appeared in European maps of Asia throughout the Age of Discovery. Originating from accounts of Portuguese exploration of Indochina, it was believed to be an enormous lake about 1,100 kilometers (680 mi) inland from which several of the major rivers of Bangladesh, Burma, and Thailand flowed. It continued to appear in European maps, gazetteers, and encyclopedias into the late 18th century.

Names The name has appeared as Chimay, Cunebetét, Chiamay, Chiammay, Jangamá, Jangoma, Cayamay, Chiama, Jamahey, Chiamai, Chaamay, Chiama, Cunebete, and Singapamor. Given its use in João de Barros and Fernão Mendes Pinto both in reference to the lake or marsh and to the surrounding kingdom and its nearby capital, it appears to have originally taken its name from Chiang Mai, capital of the Kingdom of Lanna.

History In his Décadas da Ásia, João de Barros mentions the lago Chiamay in his treatment of the term of Lopo Soares de Albergaria, who was governor of Portuguese India in the period 1515–1518. Barros had previously met with Fernão Mendes Pinto, whose journal of his travels in the 1540s was later published, including two passages about a lake either 36 or 180 leagues around surrounded by prosperous mines and possibly originating the Ganges in addition to the other great rivers of the region. As Cayamay Lago, the lake was greatly popularized by the "Ramusio Map", a map of Southeast Asia drafted by Giacomo Gastaldi and used as the third map (Italian: Terza Tavola) in the 1554 second volume of Giovanni Battista Ramusio's Delle Navigationi et Viaggi. Gastaldi gave the lake as the origin of the Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, and Chao Phraya. No major lake has ever existed in the area of Chiang Mai, but—established by Barros and Ramusio's reputations—the lake spread across new European maps as late as 1751 and continued in the form of reprints even longer, at least as late as 1783. During the same period, it continued to be mentioned in gazetteers and encyclopedias, including an entry in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

See also History and Geography of Thailand History and Geography of Burma Age of Discovery History of cartography and geography Cartography of Asia

References

Citations

Bibliography "Chimay", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. II (1st ed.), Edinburgh: Colin Macfarquhar, 1771, p. 184. De Barros, João (1777), "Livro II... Lopo Soares d'Albergaria...", Da Asia... Decada III, Parte I (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Regia Officina Typographica, pp. 104–232. De Orta, Garcia (1895), "Coloquio 29: Do Lacre", in De Melo Breyner, Francisco Manuel (ed.), Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India (PDF) (in Portuguese), vol. 2, Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, pp. 29–45. Mendes Pinto, Fernaõ (1725), Peregrinaçaõ... (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Officina Ferreyriana. Pearson, Michael (2018), "Lake Chiamay: Asia's Mythical Mother of Rivers", The Globe: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Map Society, pp. 43 ff.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lake Chimay

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lake Chimay claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lake Chimay before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lake Chimay ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lake Chimay

In research: Lake Chimay appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lake Chimay in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lake Chimay is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cartographic errors, Fictional lakes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lake Chimay outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lake Chimay in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lake Chimay means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lake Chimay out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lake Chimay in simple terms?

Why does Lake Chimay matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lake Chimay?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lake Chimay.