America...what's in the name?

America; the name... a german connection

A work of art the above map was originally produced by a German Artist, a painter and mapmaker.It should be one of the most important pieces of art in North and or South America.

The obscure map is based on the travels and explorations of an Italian monk, his name was Amerigo Vespucci. The artist put the monk-explorer-travelers name somewhere on the American map in the area which is now known a Paraguay.(1500 about, and only a few years after Columbus/ Colon discovered what he believed to be India).

The work of art clearly depicts India on the left side as being totally separate from the newly found continent. This was first time ever that the American continent, in this case mostly south America was shown as a distinctly separate continent, of course the great distance to Asia ( Indian ocean) was not known at that time.