Waldseemüller was one of the foremost cosmographers of Europe in his time. He studied studied the universe - the heavens and the earth, combining astronomy and geography. His ideas about geography were similar to those of other scholars of the early sixteenth century. Except in one region.

Earlier maps that Waldseemüller studied in making his world maps do not show the west coast of South America. Did information from the Americans somehow reach the mapmaker? Possibly. Maybe it was only luck or chance. And why did Waldseemüller choose to honor Amerigo Vespucci?

On the Wall Map

On the Globe