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M-12606: (Image: 10x13 ¼’’) “Die Nüw Welt”  From Cosmographiae Universalis. Basle: Sebastian Münster-Heinrich Petri, c. 1556. State 7. Woodcut engraving with later hand-coloring. Verso text: French.

A HIGHLY IMPORTANT MAP: This decorative map is the earliest separate map of the Americas and “first map of the two American continents showing continuity between North and South America and no connection with any other landmass” (Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 45). “Münster presented a remarkably advanced outline of the American continents, especially considering that less than 50 years had elapsed since the first voyage of Columbus”!!! (Martin & Martin, p.67). The name “Americam” in South America is confirmation of the name after Vespucci. Münster used Magellan’s discoveries, attaching his name to the straits south of the mainland, with his ship Victoria depicted in the Pacific. The Gulf of Mexico is amazingly accurate, although Yucatan is shown as an island. Considerable folklore is included such as “Regio Gigantum” (region of giants), a cannibal’s hut with a dismembered leg (both in South America) & an archipelago of 7,448 islands near Japan.

Illustrated Ref:  Martin & Martin: Maps of Texas and the Southwest,Pl #2; Schwartz & Ehrenberg:  Mapping of America, Pl #18; John Goss:  Mapping of North America, Map #6; Prestel, America Early Maps of the New World, #108; Burden #12.