America sive India Nova

        

     A copper-engraved map showing the Western Hemisphere as known at the end of the 16th century. Following the death of the great cartographer Gerard Mercator in 1594, his son Rumold took up the task of publishing the last three parts that formed his famous Atlantis Par Altera. The atlas was finished with a number of maps engraved by various descendants of Gerard. The task of the American map was given to his grandson Michael. It is the only printed map known to be by him, and has been called "beautifully engraved and describe as "a hemispherical map contained within an attractive floral design, and surrounded by four roundels, one of which contains the title. The other three contain maps of the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, and Hispaniola, all spheres of Spanish influence. The general outline is largely taken from Rumond Mercator's world map of 1587, with a little more detail added. A few of the most famous theories are still present : the mythical "Friesland" is shown near Iceland, two of the four islands of the North Pole, a large inland lake in northern Canada, the St. Lawrence River is shown originating half way across the North American continent, there is a bulge to the west coast of South America and the presence of a large southern continent named "Terra Australis Nondum Cognita".

     In 1604 the  copper plates from the Mercator Atlas were sold to the noted publisher Jodocus Hondius and were incorporated along with about 40 of his own into enlarged editions of the Atlas. still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher. This image is believed to be from the 1615 edition of the Hondius Atlas and is guaranteed to be authentic and over three hundred and ninety years old.