Waldseemüller, Martin

Martin Waldseemüller, Waldseemüller also spelled Waltzemüller, orWalzenmüller, Greek Hylacomylus, orIlacomilus, (born c. 1470, Radolfzell, Württemberg [Germany]—died 1518–21Saint-Dié, Lorraine [now in France]), German cartographer who in 1507 published the first map with the name America for the New World.

Educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, Waldseemüller moved to Saint-Dié, where in 1507 he published 1,000 copies of a woodcut world map, made with 12 blocks and compiled from the tradition of Ptolemy and the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci; he named the New World in Vespucci’s honour. A later Carta marina (1516) was drawn in chart style.