Hand-tinted woodcut map of the New World. The map's text is in Latin, except for a French title that translates as, "Map of the new islands which are called the islands of the West or of the Indies." This map was the first to depict North and South America as separate from the rest of the world's land masses yet connected to each other by land. North America is labeled "Terra florida." Forests and mountains are indicated on the continents, and cannibals are depicted as living in present-day Brazil. All land masses and oceans are presented out of proper perspective. This map appeared in a French edition of the book Cosmographia by the German cartographer Sebastian Münster. The book was widely read, with about forty editions printed during the century following its first appearance in 1544.
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