All Topics  
Martin Waldseemüller

 
Martin Waldseemüller

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Martin Waldseemüller
 
 
  Topics Martin Waldseemüller Topic Home

Martin Waldseemüller (Latinized Martinus Ilacomilus or Hylacomylus, c. 1470 – c. 1521/1522) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 cartographer
Cartography

File:Mediterranean chart fourteenth century2.jpgCartography is the study and practice of making Geography Map. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that we can model reality in ways that communicate spatial information effectively....
. He and Matthias Ringmann
Matthias Ringmann

Matthias Ringmann was a Germany cartography and Humanism poetry. He is credited with naming Americas on the map of his friend Martin Waldseem?ller....
 are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honor of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer and cartographer. The continents of The Americas are popularly understood to derive their name from the Grammatical gender Latin version of his given name ....
.

seemüller was born in Freiburg im Breisgau (his mother was from Radolfzell
Radolfzell

Radolfzell am Bodensee is a town in Germany at the western end of Lake Constance approximately 18 km northwest of Konstanz. It is the third largest town, after Constance and Singen, in the Konstanz , in Baden-W?rttemberg....
) and studied at the University of Freiburg.

On April 25, 1507, working at St.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Martin Waldseemüller'
Start a new discussion about 'Martin Waldseemüller'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Martin Waldseemüller (Latinized Martinus Ilacomilus or Hylacomylus, c. 1470 – c. 1521/1522) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 cartographer
Cartography

File:Mediterranean chart fourteenth century2.jpgCartography is the study and practice of making Geography Map. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that we can model reality in ways that communicate spatial information effectively....
. He and Matthias Ringmann
Matthias Ringmann

Matthias Ringmann was a Germany cartography and Humanism poetry. He is credited with naming Americas on the map of his friend Martin Waldseem?ller....
 are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honor of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer and cartographer. The continents of The Americas are popularly understood to derive their name from the Grammatical gender Latin version of his given name ....
.

Life

Waldseemüller was born in Freiburg im Breisgau (his mother was from Radolfzell
Radolfzell

Radolfzell am Bodensee is a town in Germany at the western end of Lake Constance approximately 18 km northwest of Konstanz. It is the third largest town, after Constance and Singen, in the Konstanz , in Baden-W?rttemberg....
) and studied at the University of Freiburg.

On April 25, 1507, working at St. Deodatus (German: Sankt Diedel) in the duchy
Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
 of Lotharingia
Lotharingia

Lotharingia or Duchy of Lorraine was a short-lived kingdom in western Europe, the aggregate of territories belonging to Lothair, King of Lotharingia , who received it in 855 from his Carolingian father, Lothair I , Carolingian Empire....
 (today Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges

Saint-Di?-des-Vosges, commonly referred to as Saint-Di?, is a communes of France of northeastern France.It is located in the Vosges departments of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
), he produced a globular world map and a large 12-panel world wall map (Universalis Cosmographia) bearing the first use of the name "America". The globular and wall maps were accompanied by a book Cosmographiae Introductio
Cosmographiae Introductio

Cosmographiae Introductio was a book published in 1507 to accompany Martin Waldseem?ller's map of the world and wall-map fwhunjgtjh bi htutihgiooasgbgf gyfuhw7jhjurutyjakutjijtjm jrojtjoj[Y9T6YKK9T99Y9otlo,hkonh,k, k759j,k,jjk....
, an introduction to cosmography
Cosmography

Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe; describes both heaven and Earth .The 14th century book 'Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-ghara'ib al-mawjudat by Persian people physician Zakariya al-Qazwini is considered to be an early work of 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).


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
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
 atlas, the continent is labelled simply Terra Incognita (unknown land). Despite the revision, 1,000 copies of the world maps had since been distributed, and the original suggestion took hold. While North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 was still called Indies in documents for some time, it was eventually called America as well.

The wall map was lost for a long time, but a copy was found in a castle at Wolfegg
Wolfegg

Wolfegg is a town in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-W?rttemberg in Germany....
 in southern Germany by Joseph Fischer in 1901. It is still the only copy known to survive, and it was purchased by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
 in 2001. Four copies of the globular map survive in the form of "gores": printed maps that were intended to be cut out and pasted onto a ball. Only one of these lies in the Americas today, residing at the James Ford Bell Library
James Ford Bell Library

The James Ford Bell Library is named for its donor and patron James Ford Bell, the founder of the General Mills Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota....
, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public university research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota, United States....
.

See also

  • Waldseemüller map
    Waldseemüller map

    The Waldseem?ller map, Universalis Cosmographia, is a wall map of the world drawn by Germany cartography Martin Waldseem?ller originally published in April 1507....
  • Naming of America
  • Discoverer of the Americas
    Discoverer of the Americas

    The discovery of the Americas is variously attributed to the following people, depending on context and definition:* Indigenous peoples of the Americas, who are the first people to live in the Americas ....
  • Richard Amerike
    Richard Amerike

    Richard Amerike pronounced America was a wealthy England merchant, Royal customs officer and Sheriff of Wales descent. He was the principal owner of John Cabot's ship Matthew during his voyage of exploration to North America in 1497....
  • History of cartography
    History of cartography

    File:Mediterranean chart fourteenth century2.jpgCartography , or mapmaking, has been an integral part of the human story for a long time, possibly up to 8,000 years....


External links

  • (Facsimile), via Google Books.
  • written by Joseph Fischer.
  • , David Brown, The Washington Post
    The Washington Post

    The Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C., United States and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877....
    . November 17, 2008; Page A07.
  • , John J. Miller, The Wall Street Journal
    The Wall Street Journal

    The Wall Street Journal is an English language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company in New York, New York with Asian and European editions....
    . July 25, 2003.