and goodnight to stephen jay gould, whatever you are. goodnight.nything about this map for the history of cartography when i started. in 2003 when i was an editor and a right at the atlantic in boston, opening my mail i came across a press release from the library announcing that for $10 million it had bought what it called america's birth certificate. the map to give america its name. that $10 million was the most the library has been on anything. it was also almost $2 million more than aggressively been paid for and ritual copy of the declaration of independence. that got my attention. i had never heard of the map, never had seen the met. the library seem to think it was its most important piece. so i wanted to find out more. and at this point i was thinking maybe i would to an article, short piece for the atlantic. so i did some research and got the basics of the story pretty quickly. early in the 1500s, in the eastern art of friends, there was a small group of scholars, among them the mapmaker came across a letter by amerigo vespucci. and they

i'll just tell you now because it was his attitude towards jay gould.nd though in the end, i have to say, in the most important battles either held his own or came out a little better with jay gould. but jay gould managed to embarrass him, which is one of the reasons why he was so embittered about ten. for example, during one more that yuri railway cut the price of cattle cars from the west. radically undercut them so the new york social river falls and they cut further. finally the world went from $150 a car for four cattle to 1 dollar a car. so meanwhile secretly jay gold and jim fisk are buying thousands of heads of cattle in chicago and shipping them over the mississippi for almost nothing. and they made a loud announcement to the press. they can just make an announcement they had to embarrass vanderbilts. but it was that kind of getting under your skin that just wrote him nuts. and by contrast, this is something we talked about before. with other businessmen, they would have vicious fights and then they would end up being friends afterward. >> it's

but jay gould managed to embarrass him. reasons why he was so em bittered about him. for example, during one war, the eerie railroad cut the price of cattle cars from the west. the central railroad. then they cut further. timely, the railroad went from $150 to $1 a car. so meanwhile, they were buying thousands of heads of cattle out in chicago. and they were shipping it over to new york central for almost nothing. once they did it, they made a loud announcement to the press. they couldn't just do it. they had to announce it. it was that kind of getting under his skin that drove him nuts. by contrast. as something we talked about before, it would have fights. >> yeah, not personal funny. it's business. and it's funny too because that story shows the whole span of vanderbilt's life in that he's one the people competing. daniel drew. who is supposedly, probably not true, started watering stock by -- he started off his career driving literal stock into new york. that's how you got beef to market. he drove it down there. and he

and goodnight, stephen jay gould, wherever you are. ♪ [applause] thank you for coming. thank you.et. thank you. >> this comic hidalgo it already is the baltimore map. the original is on display in the jefferson building in the great hall. if you haven't been over there to see it already, i strongly, strongly urge you to go do it. there's nothing like face time with the real thing. there's only one copy that survives in the world and it's this one. it's probably about that big. 8 feet by 4.5 p. to a might even be a little bit bigger. so please go over there at some point. as john and john both suggested, i did know anything about this map or the history of cartography when i started eared in 2003, when i was an editor at the atlantic and boston opening mamula came across a presley from the library announcement for $10 million into about what he called called america's birth certificate, the baltimore map, the map to give america its name. at $10 million was the most i ever -- the library have ever spent on anything. and that kind of got my attention. i'd never heard of the map, nev