Martin Waldseemüller ( – 16 March 1520) was a German
cartographer
Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...
and
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
scholar. Sometimes known by the
Hellenized form of his name, Hylacomylus, his work was influential among contemporary cartographers. His collaborator
Matthias Ringmann
Matthias Ringmann (1482–1511), also known as Philesius Vogesigena, was an Alsatian German Humanism, humanist scholar and cosmography, cosmographer. Along with cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, he is credited with the first documented usage of ...
and he are credited with the first recorded usage of the word ''
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
'' to name a portion of the
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
in honour of Italian explorer
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named.
Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...
, coming from the Old High German name
Emmerich, in a
world map
A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of t ...
they delineated in 1507. The same map also first showed the Pacific Ocean, separating the Americas from Asia. Waldseemüller was also the first to map South America as a continent separate from Asia, the first to produce a printed globe, and the first to create a printed wall map of Europe. A set of his maps printed as an appendix to the 1513 edition of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's
''Geography'' is considered to be the first example of a modern
atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets.
Atlases have traditio ...
.
Life and works
Details of Waldseemüller's life are scarce. He was born around 1470 in the German town of
Wolfenweiler. His father was a butcher and moved to Freiburg (now
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
) in about 1480. Records show that Waldseemüller was enrolled in 1490 at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...
, where
Gregor Reisch, a noted humanist scholar, was one of his influential teachers; the printer
Johannes Schott was his classmate. After finishing at the university, he lived in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, where he was ordained a priest, and apparently, gained experience in printing and engraving while working with the printer community in Basel.
Around 1500, an association of humanist scholars formed in
Saint Dié, in the
Duchy of Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...
, under the patronage of
René II, Duke of Lorraine
René II (2 May 1451 – 10 December 1508) was Count of Vaudémont from 1470, Duke of Lorraine from 1473, and Duke of Bar from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Provence as the Duke of Calabria ...
. They called themselves the ''Gymnasium Vosagense'' and their leader was Walter Lud. Their initial intention was to publish a new edition of Ptolemy's ''Geography''. Waldseemüller was invited to join the group and contribute his skills as a cartographer. How he came to the group's attention is unclear, but Lud later described him as a master cartographer.
Matthias Ringmann
Matthias Ringmann (1482–1511), also known as Philesius Vogesigena, was an Alsatian German Humanism, humanist scholar and cosmography, cosmographer. Along with cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, he is credited with the first documented usage of ...
was also brought into the group because of his previous work with the ''Geography'' and his knowledge of Greek and Latin. Ringmann and Waldseemüller soon became friends and collaborators.
1507 world map
In 1506, the ''Gymnasium'' obtained a French translation of the Soderini Letter, a booklet attributed to
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named.
Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...
that provided a sensational account of four alleged Vespucci voyages to explore the coast of lands recently discovered in the western Atlantic. The ''Gymnasium'' surmised that this was the "new world" or the "
antipodes
In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ea ...
" hypothesized by classical writers. The Soderini Letter gave Vespucci credit for discovery of this new continent and implied that newly obtained Portuguese maps were based on his explorations. They decided to put aside the ''Geography'' for the moment and publish a brief ''
Introduction to Cosmography'' with an accompanying world map. The ''Introduction'' was written by Ringmann and included a Latin translation of the Soderini Letter. In a preface to the letter, Ringmann wrote
"I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women's names."

While Ringmann was writing the ''Introduction'', Waldseemüller focused on the creation of a world map using an aggregation of sources, including maps based on the works of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
,
Henricus Martellus,
Alberto Cantino, and
Nicolò de Caverio. In addition to a large 12-panel wall map, Waldseemüller created a smaller, simplified globe. The wall map was decorated with prominent portraits of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
and
Vespucci. The map and globe were notable for showing the New World as a continent separate from Asia and for naming the southern landmass America. By April 1507, the map, globe and accompanying book, ''Introduction to Cosmography'', were published. A thousand copies were printed and sold throughout Europe.
The ''Introduction'' and map were a great success, and four editions were printed in the first year alone. The map was widely used in universities and was influential among cartographers who admired the craftsmanship that went into its creation. In the following years, other maps were printed that often incorporated the name America. Although Waldseemüller had intended the name to apply only to a specific part of Brazil, other maps applied it to the entire continent. In 1538,
Gerardus Mercator
Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish people, Flemish geographer, cosmographer and Cartography, cartographer. He is most renowned for creating the Mercator 1569 world map, 1569 world map based on a new Mercator pr ...
used America to name both the north and south continents on his influential map, and by this point, the name was securely fixed on the New World.
Ptolemy's ''Geography'' (1513)
After 1507, Waldseemüller and Ringmann continued to collaborate on a new edition of Ptolemy's ''Geography''. In 1508, Ringmann travelled to Italy and obtained a Greek manuscript of ''Geography'' (''Codex Vaticanum Graecorum 191''). With this key reference, they continued to make progress and Waldseemüller was able to finish his maps. Completion was forestalled, though, when their patron, Duke René II, died in 1508. The new edition was finally printed in 1513 by Johannes Schott in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. By then, Waldseemüller had pulled out of the project and was not credited for his cartographic work. Nevertheless, his maps were recognized as important contributions to the science of cartography and were considered a standard reference work for many decades.
About 20 of Waldseemüller's ''tabulae modernae'' (modern maps) were included in the new ''Geography'' as a separate appendix, ''Claudii Ptolemaei Supplementem''. This supplement constitutes the first modern atlas. Maps of Lorraine and the upper Rhine region were the first printed maps of those regions and were probably based on survey work done by Waldseemüller himself.
The world map published in the 1513 ''Geography'' seems to indicate that Waldseemüller had second thoughts about the name and the nature of the lands discovered in the western Atlantic. The New World was no longer clearly shown as a continent separate from Asia, and the name America had been replaced with ''Terra Incognita'' (Unknown Land). What caused him to make these changes is not clear, but perhaps he was influenced by contemporary criticism that Vespucci had usurped Columbus's primacy of discovery.
Other works

Waldseemüller was also interested in surveying and surveying instruments. In 1508, he contributed a treatise on surveying and perspective to the fourth edition of
Gregor Reisch's ''Margarita Philosophica''. He included an illustration of a forerunner to the
theodolite
A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building and ...
, a surveying instrument he called the polimetrum. In 1511, he published the ''Carta Itineraria Europae'', a road map of Europe that showed important trade routes and pilgrim routes from central Europe to
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...
, Spain. It was the first printed wall map of Europe.
In 1516, he produced another large-scale wall map of the world, the ''Carta Marina Navigatoria'', printed in Strasbourg. It was designed in the style of
portolan chart
Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian language, Italian ''portolano'', meaning " ...
s and consisted of 12 printed sheets.
The Paris Green Globe (or ''Globe vert''), has been attributed to Waldseemüller by experts at the Bibliothèque Nationale, but the attribution is not universally accepted.
Waldseemüller died without a will on 16 March 1520 in Saint Dié in the
Upper Rhenish Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, where he had served as a canon in the collegiate Church of Saint Dié since 1514.
1507 map rediscovered
The 1507 wall map was lost for a long time, but a copy was found in
Schloss Wolfegg in southern Germany by
Joseph Fischer in 1901. It is the only known copy and was purchased by the United States
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
in May 2003 for $10 million, the highest price paid to that time for a historical document.
Five copies of Waldseemüller's globular map survive in the form of "
gores": printed map sections that were intended to be cut out and pasted onto a wooden globe.
Honours
*
Waldseemüller Rock in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
is named after Martin Waldseemüller.
See also
*
Waldseemüller map
The Waldseemüller map or ''Universalis Cosmographia'' ("Universal Cosmography") is a printed wall map of the world by the German cartography, cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first ma ...
*
Naming of the Americas
The naming of the Americas occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's death in 1506. The earliest known use of the name ''America'' dates to April 25, 1507, when it was applied to what is now known as South America. It is generally accepted th ...
*
History of the Americas
The human history of the Americas is thought to begin with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an ice age. These groups are generally believed to have been isolated from the people of the "Old World" until the coming o ...
*
Richard Amerike
*
History of cartography
Maps have been one of the most important human inventions, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way. When and how the earliest maps were made is unclear, but maps of local terrain are believed to have been independently invented by man ...
*
List of Catholic clergy scientists
*
List of German inventors and discoverers
Notes
Bibliography
* David Brown: ''16th-Century Mapmaker's Intriguing Knowledge'', in: ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', 2008-11-17, p. A7
*Peter W. Dickson: "The Magellan Myth: Reflections on Columbus, Vespucci and the Waldseemueller Map of 1507", Printing Arts Press, 2007, 2009 (Second Edition)
*
*
*
* Lester, Toby (2009a) ''Putting America on the Map'',
Smithsonian, Volume 40, Number 9, p. 78, December 2009
*
*
* Seymour Schwartz: ''Putting "America" on the Map, the Story of the Most Important Graphic Document in the History of the United States'', Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2007
*
*Van Duzer, Chet. "The Annotations in the 1525 Ptolemy in the Huntington Library: The Continuing Influence of Martin Waldseemüller's World Map of 1507." ''Huntington Library Quarterly'' 85, no. 3 (2022): 517–538.
*
External links
The Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller(Facsimile), via
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
.
*
"16th-Century Mapmaker's Intriguing Knowledge" David Brown,
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
. November 17, 2008, p. A07.
"The map that changed the world" Toby Lester,
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 28 October 2009.
*
*
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress.
The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...
presentation o
''Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorum que lustrationes'' or ''A Map of the Entire World According to the Traditional Method of Ptolemy and Corrected with Other Lands of Amerigo Vespucci'' Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
Cosmographiae Introductio: cum Quibusdam Geometriae ac Astronomiae Principiis ad eam rem NecessariisFrom th
Rare Book and Special Collections Divisionat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
''Cosmographiae introductio: cum quibusdam geometriae ac astronomiae principiis ad eam rem necessariis...''From th
John Boyd Thacher Collectionat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Carta Marina of 1516, Speaker: Chet Van DuzerVideo from the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Carta Marina of 1516 digital copy at the Library of Congress
virtual exhibition on
Museo Galileo
Museo Galileo (formerly ''Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza''; Institute and Museum of the History of Science) is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicat ...
's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldseemuller, Martin
1470s births
1520 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
People from Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
German cartographers
16th-century cartographers
University of Freiburg alumni
Catholic clergy scientists
16th-century German writers
16th-century German male writers
16th-century German Roman Catholic priests
Globe makers