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First America Map To Go On Display Soon
The map you see above is part of a map created in 1507 by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. He created this map after researching notes from explorers Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, as well as other unknown Portuguese and Spanish sources, according to a statement from the Library of Congress. However, it is not clear how he could have drawn such an accurate picture of South America nor how he knew there was a separate body of water on the west side of America based on his research. According to experts, he couldn't have drawn this map based on Vespucci's descriptions.
Another matter of interest is that in later versions of this map, Waldseemuller no longer used the name America. For more information, visit National Geographic.
There was an amazing map store that we used to visit when we were on vacation in Maui that has beautiful pieces. With Captain Cook's connection to both Hawaii and Alaska it was fun for Andrew to get a replica of one of Cook's map for his office wall.
December 11, 2007 12:09 AM
