he didn't go that far south but when his contemporaries, amerigo vespucci did and amerigo vespucci's portrait is at the top of the map to map. amerigo vespucci made voyages across the planet to the caribbean to the region columbus visited but then he sailed especially on one bush very favor self, and entered an area like i said earlier that nobody really had put mid-continent on before. thousands of miles below the equator where most people had assumed there was only water. amerigo vespucci repeatedly in his letters talks about this giant new plays as asian land. it wasn't that he decided he reached a new continent. people often think that was what he was announcing to the world but he clearly makes reference to it as asia. he talks about wanting to find a way around the tip of that landed reach the indian ocean. he thought he was on the verge of doing that but he still far enough south along this continent that he decided this was an entirely new part of asia that europeans have not visited before and wrote letters home making that point. one of those letters was published under the

and they came up with the name of america in honor of amerigo vespucci. it's a great story. there's a lot more to it than that and will get into more of it later. but as i was looking to the map i learned pretty quickly it is also significant for other reasons, not just for the naming of america. if you look on the left there, that's the new world, south america and with north america about it. this is the first map to show north and south america unambiguously surrounded by water. not at some undefined part of asia, or just some undefined place that isn't identified at all. because it shows north and south america surrounded by water, it's really the first map to suggest the existence of the pacific ocean. this is something of mr. guith europeans are supposed to know about the pacific ocean and mountaintop.alboa caught sight so that's something that brings a lot of people back to the map, something that peter has written about extensively. it's not something i'd will on a whole lot in the book because i felt the ministry is almost more fun to leave as a try to resolve the.

south america, which amerigo vespucci wrote about, in the late 1490s and early 1500s, extended far intoto do a book for ra like me who is reasonably well-informed that really didn't know anything about the map or the history of really world mapping, would read and learn as much as possible from. and i wanted to come up with a will of making it kind of gripping narrative read. as many different stores as possible. the way i came up for organizing all that was to use the map as the guide, and as the backdrop. the book is organized into chapters that move all over the map that each chapter starts with a little detail from part of the map. starts at about the 12 hundreds in england at the very western edge of the known world at the time. and then gradually moves across the map through geography and through history as europeans gradually make their way out to central asia and into china. comes back to europe and then moves down along the coast of africa and then eventually moves across the atlantic and over to the new world. speculative portion of a booktv program. you can view the entire pr

south america, which, excuse me, amerigo vespucci wrote about in the late 14 90's and early 1400's extendednk there wasn't any land. and i made a big impression and put it back to that in a minute. what dominates the map then is the southern part and that's why the cartographer put the word continent along the shores that amerigo vespucci sailed along. [inaudible] always zero in on it. it's probably on today what would be considered bizzell right name up and then put it on the map. as i said though, there's much, much more to the map in just a depiction of the new world. and i wanted stood us to a book for general reader, for someone like me who is reasonably well informed verbally to know anything about the map of history of early met world mapping to learn and read as much as possible from. and i wanted to come up the way of making it a kind of gripping narrative freed. as many different stories as possible. the way i came up with organizing all that was to use the map as the guide and as the backdrop. the book is organized into chapters that move all over the map here at each chapter sta