John Cabot
Corte-Real
Vasco da Gama
Amerigo Vespucci

A new land mass in the north and the islands to the east of it on his globe probably reflect Waldseemüller's knowledge of the English voyages of John Cabot and the Portuguese voyages of Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real to Labrador and Newfoundland in 1501.


North America

Although Cabot's landing places in 1497 and 1498, remain unknown, Waldseemüller's unnamed land seems to be almost as large as a continent. Straight south below the unnamed land the "Oceanus Occidentalis" appears for the first time on any printed map. The name. "Western Ocean" is not unusual.

oceanus occidental

 

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