How a 1507 German Map Became America’s Birth Certificate

It’s not precisely clear why a 16th century German cartographer chose to honor the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by naming a land mass after him instead of Christopher Columbus, who historically gets the credit for America’s discovery.    But Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 map has been called America’s birth certificate as the first geographic document to apply the moniker.   "Columbus discovered America, Vespucci sold it," said John Hessler, a Library of...

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