Martin Waldseemüller made the two world maps to accompany his book, the Cosmographiæ Introductio (Introduction to Cosmography). His maps and book are evidence of his thought.

During a delay in the publication of a promised major edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, the scholars at St. Dié published their first book, the Cosmographiæ introductio of Martin Waldseemüller. The patron of the scholars,René II, Duke of Lorraine, supported the publication.