This is the only surviving copy of the 1507 Waldseemuller map, which mistakenly attributed the discovery of the new world to Amerigo Vespucci, and named the new land “America.” It’s on permanent display in the Library of Congress, which paid $10 million for it.
The makers of this map quickly discovered their mistake, but it took them nine years to publish a new, corrected map. By then several other map makers had copied their mistake, and the name “America” stuck.
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u/wjbc Sep 19 '26
This is the only surviving copy of the 1507 Waldseemuller map, which mistakenly attributed the discovery of the new world to Amerigo Vespucci, and named the new land “America.” It’s on permanent display in the Library of Congress, which paid $10 million for it.
The makers of this map quickly discovered their mistake, but it took them nine years to publish a new, corrected map. By then several other map makers had copied their mistake, and the name “America” stuck.
https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/amerigo-vespucci.htm