Martin Waldseemüller
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Martin Waldseemüller (19th century painting) |
Martin Waldseemüller (Latin name
Martinus Ilacomilus or
Hylacomylus, ca.
1470 - ca.
1521/
1522) was a
German cartographer. He was born in
Radolfzell (or according to the Catholic Encyclopedia
Wolfenweiler, near
Freiburg, with his mother originating from Radolfzell) and studied at the
University of Freiburg.
In
1507, working at
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in
Lorraine, he produced a world globe and a large world map (
Universalis Cosmographia) bearing the first use of the name "America". The globe and map were accompanied by a book
Cosmographiae Introductio, an introduction to
cosmography. The book includes a translation to Latin of the
Quattuor Americi navigationes (
Four Voyages of Amerigo), which is apparently a letter written by
Amerigo Vespucci, although some historians consider it to have been a forgery written by its supposed recipient in Italy. The
Cosmographiae describes why the name America was used:
ab Americo Inventore ...quasi Americi terram sive Americam (from Amerigo the discoverer ...as if it were the land of Americus, thus America). Some hold that the
Cosmographiae was written by
Matthias Ringmann instead, or that it was a joint effort.
In
1513 Waldseemüller appears to have had second thoughts about the name, probably due to contemporary protests about Vespucci's role in the discovery and naming of America. In his reworking of the
Ptolemy atlas (written with Ringmann) the continent is labelled simply
Terra Incognita (unknown land). However 1000 copies of the world map had been distributed and the original suggestion took hold. While
North America was still called
Indies in documents for some time it was eventually called America as well.
The map was lost for a long time, but a copy was found in a castle at
Wolfegg in southern Germany by
Joseph Fischer in
1901. It is still the only copy known in existence and was purchased by the
Library of Congress in
2001. Four copies of the globe survive in the form of "gores" - printed maps that were intended to be cut out and pasted on to a ball. Only one of these lies in
the Americas, residing at the
James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota.
*
Waldseemüller map*
Naming of America*
Discoverer of the Americas*
Richard Amerike*
History of cartography*
Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Waldseemüller written by Joseph Fischer.
