Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff. Lauren
Speaker 1: vogelbam Here. The Library of Congress in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Houses an enormous five hundred year old world map that
Speaker 1: was the very first to use the name America. It's
Speaker 1: the only surviving copy of what's known as the fifteen
Speaker 1: oh seven Vladsmuller Map, a priceless historical artifact discovered in
Speaker 1: the basement of a German castle in nineteen oh one
Speaker 1: and purchased by the Library of Congress for ten million
Speaker 1: dollars in two thousand and three. For the article this
Speaker 1: episode is based on How Stuffworks, spoke with Chet Van Duzer,
Speaker 1: a map making historian. He said, it's the birth certificate
Speaker 1: of America. But equally as fascinating as the fifteen oh
Speaker 1: seven map is a world map from just nine years later,
Speaker 1: the Carda Marina of fifteen sixteen. This map was published
Speaker 1: by the very same man, Martin Valdsmuller, but the word
Speaker 1: America is nowhere to be found. In its place is
Speaker 1: the name Terra Nova, meaning new World. Van Duser said,
Speaker 1: the most amazing thing about the name America is that
Speaker 1: the guy who invented it decided it wasn't the right name,
Speaker 1: and despite a number of Norse expeditions as early as
Speaker 1: the nine hundred CE, Europe as a whole did not
Speaker 1: know that what we now call the Americas existed until
Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean in fourteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: He brought back word the next year, and the news
Speaker 1: kicked off an age of European exploration and colonization. By
Speaker 1: fifteen oh four, he had completed four voyages and made
Speaker 1: land on parts of what's now Central and South America.
Speaker 1: And sure Columbus never set foot in North America and
Speaker 1: died insisting that he had found a western route to Asia.
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, why didn't Valdsmuller called the lad Lands say
Speaker 1: Columbia on his map in fifteen oh seven, Probably because
Speaker 1: Columbus didn't write a best selling pamphlet about his travels
Speaker 1: that was redolent with sex, violence and cannibalism, which is
Speaker 1: what his fellow Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci did. A Vespucci
Speaker 1: set sale in fourteen ninety nine and published two wildly
Speaker 1: popular accounts of his voyages. A Van Duser said Vespucci
Speaker 1: was a better self promoter than Columbus, and his accounts
Speaker 1: are more lurid, shall we say, than Columbuses, so they
Speaker 1: were reprinted more often. Vespucci's first pamphlet, written in fifteen
Speaker 1: oh four, was called Mandas Novis. In it, Vespucci claimed
Speaker 1: that the lands across the Atlantic were indeed a new continent,
Speaker 1: not an extension of Asia or just some big island.
Speaker 1: His expedition landed somewhere in what's now known as the
Speaker 1: Guianas at the northern edge of South America, and then
Speaker 1: headed south, following the coast along what's now Brazil and
Speaker 1: Uruguay and Argentina all the way to just some four
Speaker 1: hundred miles north of the tip of the continent, before
Speaker 1: heading back. That's about six hundred and fifty kilometers north
Speaker 1: of the south end of the continent. Vespucci wrote, this
Speaker 1: transcends the view held by our ancients that there is
Speaker 1: no continent to the south beyond the equator, but only
Speaker 1: the sea, which they named the Atlantic. But this their
Speaker 1: opinion is false and utterly opposed to the truth. This
Speaker 1: my last voyage, has made manifest, for in those southern
Speaker 1: parts I have found a continent more densely peopled at
Speaker 1: abounding in animals than our Europe, or Asia or Africa.
Speaker 1: The pamphlet also included plenty of colorful details about the
Speaker 1: quote unquote curious natives, whom Daspucci depicted as gentle overall
Speaker 1: but decidedly un Christian in their customs, which he said
Speaker 1: included facial piercings, cannibalism, and sexual promiscuity. A second pamphlet,
Speaker 1: known as the Soderini Letter, which may not have been
Speaker 1: written entirely by Vespucci, made the Rounds in fifteen oh five.
Speaker 1: This one involved more nudity and provided play by play
Speaker 1: accounts of a few instants between the Europeans and the
Speaker 1: indigenous peoples, some humorous, some violent. The Spucci's accounts were
Speaker 1: widely read throughout Europe, including the small village in France
Speaker 1: where mapmaker Martin Valdsmuller and his collaborator Mattheus Ringman were
Speaker 1: compiling an ambitious new map of the world. They had
Speaker 1: undoubtedly heard of Columbus, but were seemingly unimpressed. Their map,
Speaker 1: published in fifteen oh seven, was a giant twelve panels that,
Speaker 1: when composited, measure four point two feet long by seven
Speaker 1: point six feet wide that's one point three by two
Speaker 1: point three meters, and at the top they engraved portraits
Speaker 1: of the two men they leaved to be the two
Speaker 1: greatest geographers of the ancient and modern world, the Greek
Speaker 1: mathematician Ptolemy and Amerigo Vespucci. In the lengthy text that
Speaker 1: accompanied the map, the two men explained, quote, the fourth
Speaker 1: part of the Earth, which because Amerigo discovered it, we
Speaker 1: may call Amerigie the land of Amerigo, so to speak,
Speaker 1: or America so yep. They named the continent America quote
Speaker 1: because Amerigo discovered it. It didn't take long for Valdzimuler
Speaker 1: and Ringman to realize their mistake, but because sixteenth century
Speaker 1: map making and printmaking was a painstakingly slow process, it
Speaker 1: took a full nine years downright speedy in those days,
Speaker 1: for the men to publish a corrected map, the Cardamrina
Speaker 1: of fifteen sixteen, along with a wordy mia culpa. They wrote,
Speaker 1: we will seem to you reader, previously to have diligently
Speaker 1: presented in shown a representation of the world that was
Speaker 1: filled with error, wonder, and confusion. As we have lately
Speaker 1: come to understand, our previous representation pleased very few people. Therefore,
Speaker 1: since true seekers of knowledge rarely color their words in
Speaker 1: confusing rhetoric, and do not embellish facts charm, but instead
Speaker 1: with a venerable abundance of simplicity, we must say that
Speaker 1: we cover our heads with a humble hood. In their
Speaker 1: cardam Marina of fifteen sixteen, the name America is gone,
Speaker 1: substituted with Terra nova. Presumably the men had figured out
Speaker 1: that Columbus and a few other sailors before Vespucci had
Speaker 1: gotten there first and had a better idea of what
Speaker 1: they were looking at than Columbus. But by fifteen sixteen,
Speaker 1: at least six other world maps had been published using
Speaker 1: the name America, and despite Waltz, Muller and Ringman's belated retraction,
Speaker 1: the original name stuff America was America from then on,
Speaker 1: thanks to some good storytelling and lucky timing. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is based on the article Amerigo Vespucci, a lurid pamphlet
Speaker 1: and the Naming of America on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written
Speaker 1: by Dave Bruse. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in
Speaker 1: partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com. It is produced by Tyler Klang.
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