Found the first copy of the American map

In Munich was discovered an unknown global map of America, which was compiled more than five centuries ago, by a famous German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller.

We know that this valuable finding was discovered by the employees of the Ludwig-Maximilian University. According to the librarians, the map was in the cover of the XIX century book on geometry. It is worth noting, that it is the earliest copy of the American map of the small scale. This unique map is shown on the worksheet area of 3 sq. m and shows the territory with two hemispheres known at that time.

Before the discovery of the map in Munich, the scientific world knew about four copies of the world map. One of them was sold at auction in 2005 for a million of dollars. At present, this copy is kept in the Library of Congress of the United States of America.

 In contrast to other copies, the Munich map has a less distinct outline and a different style of shading and shape of some letters. It is noteworthy that the city of Kozhikode, where Vasco da Gama landed in May 1498, is located not on the fifth but on the fourth segment. Experts believe that this map of America was charted a little later than the first copy found in 1507.

It is important for experts to determine the history of this artifact. Most likely, the map got in a book on geometry by accident about 2 centuries ago. The book itself, together with other funds of the library has been kept during the Second World War in a box number 340 and was transported to Niederviehbah, and only in September 1955 returned to Munich.