500 year old Map that named America is a puzzle for researchers »
Posted By _kam0_ 10 months, 1 week ago in Science & TechnologyThe only surviving copy of the 1507 Waldseemuller map goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, but it remains a puzzle for researchers. Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately?
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
When America was first explored by the Spanish and Portuguese, the maps drawn by the explorers were considered state secrets and their publication was prohibited.
During the 16th century, the king of Spain was part of the Hapsburg dynasty and was also the ruler of many parts of Europe, including all or parts of Holland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, .... and parts of North Africa. At the time, the best printing was in Germany and so many of the maps from the Spanish explorers were printed in Germany.
Some people consider the Waldseemuller map phony - for example, it contains many errors in Spanish geography, which are significant since Spain had been one of the best mapped parts of the world ever since the "mapamundi" of Ptolomeo in the first century AD.
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Aidenag10 months, 1 week ago
I submitted this copy of the map a while back on digg, pretty good resolution, could be better, but it's best ive found on the web to date.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7...
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doggammit10 months, 1 week ago
Ohhh Aaahh! - What a beauty! Thanks Aidenag...
M. Drapeau, I share your sentiments. Maps are very fascinating. Are you aware of the new field of carto-semiotics? Our academics have finally figured out that the "imaginary" and the "scientific" forms of mapping that have held forth since the first maps - which date and provenance to ancient Egypt and one or two contemporaries - is an integrated field of study. Vigorous navigational cultures - like the Phoenician - had to be carrying star maps as well as terrestrial info about coastline ports of call - like Cadiz - most likely in their heads, or in the shape of mnemonic devices. Sky maps, star maps and even maps of imaginary places, (including various pre-Biblical impressions of a "Holy Land") are all related in various ways and have much to do with ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Indian and Persian board games as well - which were spelling out the road to "Valhalla" as often as not...
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Charlson10 months, 1 week ago
I believe the ancients knew more about geography, science, astronomy and etc. than western civilization from the Dark Ages through the Renaissance and even up to Modern times. Ancient civilizations had remarkable knowledge that seemed to have been lost and rediscovered by accident or finding artifacts and texts that lay hidden for hundreds or thousands of years.
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joeblowe10 months, 1 week ago
I dunno - that depiction of the Americas doesn't look all that accurate to me. You can barely see the Florida peninsula and the entire West coast of both north and south America appear to be more guesswork than anything else. Occasional accuries COULD simply be accidental. Or, maybe the Vikings had more maps than anyone supposed and loaned them to the monks. Or, maybe the whole thing IS a fake. One would SUPPOSE that it has been carefully authenticated, but sometimes stupid things happen. I will allow as how Africa seems to be quite close to the mark, though...
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
Actually there were. Ptolemy's 1st century AD maps already used circular trigonometry, latitude, longitude and projections in modern forms. He wrote an eight volume series on the geography of the world. The original maps were lost, but were able to be reconstructed in about 1300 from the coordinates given in the text.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/PtolemyMap.htm
The idea that one could sail west from Europe to reach "India" was already known in by Greeks and Romans (as early as 600BC).
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koranagirl10 months, 1 week ago
The map is fascinating, but I agree with the poster that said the Vikings probably gave them the knowledge. Also, it is believed that in the 13th century, St. Brendan from Ireland visited America on several long ocean voyages, leaving the spring each year, sailing across the Atlantic via trade winds during the summer and staying there until next spring when he returned to Ireland
He wrote a book on his travels and it became a best seller in Ireland. This book was sold throughout Europe during that same time period.
It would not be a far stretch for European mapmakers to be fascinated by his travels and interview him. He wass supposedly an expert in navigation.
Anyone know if there's a translation of his book on the internet?
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1-2-Oscar10 months, 1 week ago
St. Brendan's voyages are questionable at best. He reported spending time on a quite civilized island called "Hy Brasil." Neither the island nor people who would match up in any sense with its inhabitants were ever found by anyone else, although the name was a favorite among mapmakers and eventually migrated to the South American coast.
It was quite common for mapmakers to populate the unknown seas with imagined islands, and other names (California, for example), ended up being attached to lands found later. Waldseemuller was no exception--if you look at his map you will see that both the Atlantic and the unnamed sea west of South America are full of islands. Sometimes these islands were based upon a single unreliable report, sometimes they are misplaced because of navigator's errors, but most often they are simply fanciful. Mapmakers, like Nature itself, abhor a vacuum.
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NelsonR10 months, 1 week ago
Maybe I'm missing something but I see guesswork with South America failing to come even close to Africa, Europe or Asia. Still I would accept it if given!!
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truthiness10 months, 1 week ago
most people had stopped believing the earth was flat back in ancient greece when men like Aristotle pointed out that the horizon appeared to curve and the earth cast a round shadow on the moon.
great story!
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Mr-opinion10 months, 1 week ago
gee maybe he saw more than was recorded by history other than him, maybee he istened to locals bete than other historians, maybe he wasn't related to Bush, and actually told the truth
Duhh --- I don't know and guess what, 1500 years later nor will anyone else - aside from speculation
does it realy matter ? history is always written by a limited circle - victory or money thats history --- truth comes in fifth or sixth on the list
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truthiness10 months ago
fifth or sixth! i resent that. I'm number one! I'm number one! I'm number one! (if I repeat it enough you'll believe me)
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