WALDSEEMLLER, MARTIN

Waldseemller also spelled Waltzemller, or Walzenmller, Greek Hylacomylus, or Ilacomilus (b. c. 1470, Radolfzell, Wrttemberg -d. 1518-21?, Saint-Di, Lorraine [now in France]), German cartographer who in 1507 published the first map with the name America for the New World. Educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, Waldseemller moved to Saint-Di, where in 1507 he published 1,000 copies of a woodcut world map, made with 12 blocks and compiled from the tradition of Ptolemy and the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci; he named the New World in Vespucci's honour. A later Carta marina (1516) was drawn in chart style.