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Map of the New World, 1540
About this map
Map by Sebastian Münster.
- Date created
- 1540
- License
- This work is believed to be in the public domain. Users are advised to make their own copyright assessment and to understand their rights to fair use.
Related media
Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for North America, Sea of Verrazano, Sebastian Münster, and South America.
In the classroom
- See our collection of articles on visual literacy for ideas on using photographs meaningfully in the classroom.
This map of the Americas, the first to show them as two connected continents not connected to any other landmass, first appeared in Sebastian Münster’s edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia in 1540. This version appeared in an Italian edition of the Geographia in about 1571.
This map shows Europeans’ evolving ideas about the New World, and especially about North America. The mythical Sea of Verrazano is depicted, splitting the North American continent in two, and both North America and the Pacific Ocean are far too narrow.
