USA: A copy of the 500-year old map that first used the name America is about to make its debut in Washington DC
Record ID:
1548325
USA: A copy of the 500-year old map that first used the name America is about to make its debut in Washington DC
- Title: USA: A copy of the 500-year old map that first used the name America is about to make its debut in Washington DC
- Date: 10th December 2007
- Summary: (L!2) WASHINGTON D.C. UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 4, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF OLD MAP IN CASE VARIOUS SHOTS OF MAP AND "AMERICA" ON IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIANNE VAN DER REYDEN, DIRECTOR OF PRESERVATION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SAYING: "Yes. This is the first map in which the word 'America' was ever printed and that makes it basically the birth certificate of America." MORE SHOTS OF THE OLD MAP WORKERS AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRESERVING THE OLD MAP VARIOUS PRESERVATION PROCESS WIDE OF OLD MAP WITH CAPITOL BUILDING IN WINDOW
- Embargoed: 25th December 2007 09:48
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: History,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA6A8J4I20KPR6IDLA8Y2NGW60N
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name 'America' goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress.
But even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers with many wondering why did the mapmaker name the territory 'America' and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific? The 12 sheets that make up the map, purchased from German Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg for 10 million U.S. dollars in 2003, were mounted on Tuesday (December 4) in a huge 6-foot by 9.5-foot (1.85 meter by 2.95 meter) display case machined from a single block of aluminium.
The case will be flooded with inert argon gas to prevent deterioration when it goes on public display December 13 at the Library of Congress.
Researchers are hopeful that putting the rarely shown map on permanent display for the first time since it was discovered in the Waldburg-Wolfegg castle archives in 1901 may stimulate interest in finding out more about the documents used to produce it.
The map was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. Thirteen years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the Western Hemisphere, the Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world.
The result, published two years later, is stunningly accurate and surprisingly modern. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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