Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map grew
out of an ambitious project in St. Dié, near Strasbourg,
France, during the first decade of the sixteenth century,
to document and
update new geographic knowledge derived from the discoveries
of the late fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth
centuries. Waldseemüller’s large world map was
the most exciting product of that research effort, and included
data gathered during Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages of
1501–1502 to the New World. Waldseemüller christened
the new lands "America" in recognition of Vespucci ’s
understanding that a new continent had been uncovered as
a result of the voyages of Columbus and other explorers in
the late fifteenth century. This is the only known surviving
copy of the first printed edition of the map, which, it is
believed, consisted of 1,000 copies.
Waldseemüller’s map supported Vespucci’s
revolutionary concept by portraying the New World as a separate
continent, which until then was unknown to the Europeans.
It was the first map, printed or manuscript, to depict clearly
a separate Western Hemisphere, with the Pacific as a separate
ocean. The map represented a huge leap forward in knowledge,
recognizing the newly found American landmass and forever
changing the European understanding of a world divided into
only three parts—Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Martin Waldseemüller (1470–1521)
Universalis Cosmographia Secundum Ptholomaei Traditionem et Americi Vespucii
Alioru[m]que Lustrationes, [St. Dié], 1507
One map on 12 sheets, made from original woodcut
Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress
Lesson Plan (Grades 6-8)
Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507
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Hyperspectral Imaging of the Waldseemuller 1507 Map
The Library of Congress Preservation Office sponsored a lecture in March 2008.
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Information Bulletin (2003)
The Map that Named America: Library Acquires 1507 Waldseemuller Map of the World
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