Download 1507 Martin Waldseemuller Map America500 Birthday Extravaganza

Who Named America? In 1507 at Ville St. Die in France, near Strasbourg, cartographer Martin Waldseemuller of Germany printed the first map to depict two new continents and a new ocean, in honor of the America 500 anniversary naming in geography.

The America500 Birthday Organizing Committee has dedicated April "2007 World Geography Month" in honor of how the depictions of planet earth in the Waldseemuller map of the globe represented the origin for the science of a new geography, resulted in conclusions and deductions rooted in Greek astronomy, as the cornerstone of knowledge for humanity to understand planet earth for the future.

The public is invited to celebrate the America500 Birthday at school, work or home. Simply, go to whonamedamerica.com.
Download the Waldseemuller map, printed on this day in 1507. Cut and shape into a sphere. The "Gore" map is divided into twelve time zones. Landscape and color as you wish! Have
fun with geography. A cornerstone for future knowledge, Waldseemuller gave humanity the learning tool, applying the existing Renaissance knowledge of science, to understand
earth as a round planetary sphere for the future.


Finally, on this America500 Birthday, unlock the door and
learn more about Waldseemuller's milestone achievement.

So did the name America come from Amerigo Vespucci?
Over the centuries, scholars have debated why the name appears on the map.

Producer-historian Riccardo Gaudino presents this twist for today's America500 Birthday. Oddly, there's no mention on the web that cites a literal translation the name America from Latin roots. According to Gaudino, "Ame" means "place of love" or "attractive" in a noun position. "Rica" means delicious or flavors or abundance. Could the printing of America mean "fertile, virgin land" to represent the spirit of Amerigo an explorer for new knowledge?