This 509-year-old map contains the first known use of the word 'America' but not where you may thi [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

This 509-year-old map contains the first known use of the word 'America' — but not where you may think

[center]1507

Universalis Cosmographia

The known world, and introducing "America"

by Alex Q. Arbuckle




The east coast of South America, the first known instance of "America" being used in a document.

Image: Library of Congress [/center]


In April 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published his Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorumque lustrationes, or The Universal Cosmography according to the Tradition of Ptolemy and the Discoveries of Amerigo Vespucci and others.

It was the first known map to feature parts of the New World labeled “America,” derived from the Latin version of Vespucci’s first name.

Vespucci had traveled up and down the east coast of South America a few years earlier, finding it to extend much farther south than previously thought — a whole new continent.

Composed of 12 separate woodcut prints, the map was meant to be assembled and hung on a wall. Using a modified Ptolemaic projection, Waldseemüller aimed to reconcile the recent discoveries of Vespucci and others with existing knowledge.

More:
http://mashable.com/2016/12/24/universalis-cosmographia/