Why America Is Called America
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: March 25, 2013
A DECADE AGO, the Library of Congress paid $10 million
to acquire the only known original copy of a 1507 world map that has
been called “the birth certificate of America.” The large map, a
masterpiece of woodblock printing, has been a star attraction at the
library ever since and the object of revived scholarly fascination about
the earliest cartography of the New World. The research has also
rescued from obscurity a little-known Renaissance man, the 16th-century
globe maker Johannes Schöner, who was responsible for saving the map for
posterity.
We call ourselves Americans today because of the map’s makers, Martin
Waldseemüller and Mathias Ringmann, young clerics in the cathedral
village of St.-Dié, France. By incorporating early New World
discoveries, their map reached beyond the canonical descriptions of Old
World geography handed down from Ptolemy in the second century. On a
lower stretch of the southern continent, the mapmakers inscribed the
name “America” in the mistaken belief that Amerigo Vespucci, not
Columbus, deserved credit for first sighting a part of that continent,
South America.
Or possibly they favored Vespucci because he held more firmly to the
growing consensus that this was indeed a New World, not the Indies (as
Columbus so wanted to believe), and because he wrote more colorfully
than Columbus about the people he encountered.
The map is also the source of an abiding mystery. How did Waldseemüller
and Ringmann already know so well the configuration of South America,
before any recorded Spanish or Portuguese voyages around the horn to the
west coast? How did they know of the Pacific before Balboa made his
sighting in 1513? Hard to believe it was just a guess or futuristic
vision of what world geography would come to be.
Were the cartographers themselves dropping a hint when they wrote on the
map that “if you are not familiar with the new discoveries, do not be
afraid of what it is you see on this map, for it is how you will come to
see your world in the future”?
Five years ago, John W. Hessler, a historian of cartography at the
library, published “The Naming of America,” an account of the map’s
importance in post-Ptolemy geography, its disappearance for centuries
and its rediscovery in a castle near the Black Forest in southwestern
Germany. Now, Dr. Hessler has dug deeper into the dynamic of the years
between Columbus, in 1492, and Copernicus, in 1543. Science and
exploration were stretching minds to distant horizons, once unknown.
Copernican astronomy was about to dislodge Earth from the center of the
universe, a start to the Scientific Revolution.
That is so interesting about the history of America and its name. Christine Lee
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that America had a birth certificate!
ReplyDelete-Ricki Le 6th period
I had always wondered where this country had got its name, now that is one question answered. We have discovered its origin of its birth name.
ReplyDelete-Ganga Pradeep,6th period
Well that was interesting! Now I know a little more about the history of the land we call home!
ReplyDelete~Amy Xue 4th Period
Well that was interesting! Now I know a little more about the history of the land we call home!
ReplyDelete~Amy Xue 4th Period
I never knew that now I have a better understanding about America.
ReplyDeleteLauren Wilson 6th Period
I had wondered how America got its name, and I didn't know America had a birth certificate.
ReplyDeleteSavannah Lee-6th period
That is really cool how America got It's name Mario Ray 6TH PERIOD
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting.
ReplyDeleteReginald Matthews 4th
hello
that is a very interesting thing to know about America
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the cartographers (I'm not even going to try to spell their names) knew the shape of S.America and how there was the Pacific Ocean behind it when none of the well-known explorers had made it there yet. Maybe there was another navigator before Magellan (and those other ones whose names I've forgotten) who nobody left any records about and the cartographers were the only ones who believed him. Or it could have been a girl and so nobody really believed her because she was a girl (which is totally unfair by the way).
ReplyDelete-Sukanya Barman
P.S. Wow, I just went from cartographers to women's rights.
This is really interesting, now I know more about America's history. thanks Mrs.Morton!
ReplyDeleteIsabel Cui 6th period
So America comes from "Amerigo"? I did not know America had a birth certificate! this article was really interesting!
ReplyDeleteselenne zarate 5th period
All this information to me was interesting thank you Mrs.Morton.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Lee 5th period
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis is really interesting knowing America's birthname was Amerigo!
ReplyDeleteNhylia Burl 6th period
This was very informational, that has always been a question on my mind. thanks for answering it!
ReplyDeleteViolet Willingham 6th period
very interesting
ReplyDeleteAniston Hicks 5th period
This was a great read!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mrs. Morton!
~Kaitlin Mottley / 5th Period
I'm so glad you posted this, and we all got to learn more about America and it's name! I didn't know America had a birth certificate. Thank you Mrs.Morton!! -Caroline Hoff 5th period
ReplyDeleteI never knew that
ReplyDelete-andrea brimhall 4th
Interesting...
ReplyDelete4th
OMG! SOOOOO COOL!!!!!!! give props to Johannes Schoner! OMg they found a really old map. kewool beans!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis an amazing fact about America Mario Ray 6th period
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information on the beginning of America.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Vazquez-6th period
I did not know America had a "birth certificate." I wonder how the document was preserved for all of these years. Was it protected by a family or maybe an organization?
ReplyDeleteRashad Abdur - Raheem 4th period
Did you know that the 1507 World Map influence Copernicus that Earth did not sit at the center of the universe, it revolved around the sun.
ReplyDeleteZachary Jordan - 4th period
Cool!!!!!!
ReplyDelete-Kate Yelverton 4th
Thats cool about America`s orgin and the name where it comes from
ReplyDeleteMichele Solis
5th period
'MERICA!
ReplyDeleteOH I remember hearing something like this on Crash Course World History! Its on Youtube and it is really interesting. :] Amelia Brittain-6th period
ReplyDeleteAmerica!! :3 Gotta love this country!!
ReplyDelete- London Pirtle 4th
I'm a proud 'Merican!!!!!!!!! Seriously, though... most other countries"very strongly dislike" us...but still, 'Merica! - Jana Shelton
ReplyDeleteI did not know that, and it is very interesting fact about America.
ReplyDeleteAvery Israel 6th
I didn't know that America had a birth certificate. Thank you for this information.
ReplyDelete-Shelby Moore 5th period
That is so cool! I never heard this before!
ReplyDeleteAutumn Darling 5th period
That is utterly fascinating
ReplyDeletei had no idea!
hamsa jambulapati
6th period
Woah. What.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool.
-Chloe Carter, 6th period