Description
“Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorū que lustrationes”
This pictoral-relief Ptolemaic world map was originally bound with Martin Waldseemüller’s 1516 Carta marina in the Schöner Sammelband, and has been composited digitally from twelve separate images. It is the first known document to label ‘America’.
Cartographer’s Note: It’s a common legend that the United States of America was named for the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It’s a not-so-common story that this area of land was named for Welshman Richard Ameryk, the Bristol merchant who financed John Cabot’s voyage of exploration in 1947. Italian-born Cabot mapped the North American coastline from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. (Vespucci never reached North America.)
Reproduction Sizes:
36″x 20.5″ (91.5cm x 52cm)
47″x 27″ (119cm x 68.5cm)
