Waldseemüller's Universalis Cosmographia (the name "America")
Universalis Cosmographia de Waldseemüller (el nombre «América»)
- Date
- 1507 · confidence high
- Place
- Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, Vosges, France
- Credited to
- Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann
- People
- 👤 Martín Waldseemüler1470–1520
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
A twelve-sheet world map that combines Ptolemaic geography with recent discoveries and gives the name "America" to the new continent in honour of Amerigo Vespucci. It shows the New World as a landmass separate from Asia with the Pacific behind it.
About a thousand copies were printed; one survives (Library of Congress, acquired in 2001). Waldseemüller dropped the name on his 1513 map, but it had already spread.
What it led to
- spread of the name America in world toponymy
- a European cartographic image of a new continent distinct from Asia