the oldest map I have ever seen

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I thought that the Murillo map (1734) was the oldest map I have ever seen... until I saw the Waldseemüller map (1507) in the Library of Congress. It's actually called Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii alioru[m]que lustrationes and it is the first map that refers to the landmass across the Atlantic Ocean as "America". Understandably, the continent's shaped very differently from what we now see in world maps. But consider that back then, the Americas haven't been thoroughly explored yet.


I naturally tried to find out where the Philippines is on the map before I read the caption... but I couldn't find the archipelago. And then I realised that the map was made in 1507. The Philippines literally hasn't entered the European consciousness when this map was made! Still, it's interesting to see that Europeans already knew about Africa and India. 

I wonder if there are older maps in the exhibit but I just didn't realise because I didn't note when they've been made...

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