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Earlier this month, Mexico's Sheinbaum joked that because a world map from 1607 — 169 years before the US was founded — labeled North America as Mexican America, perhaps the continent should ...

The two names he put on his 1538 world map are the ones we've used ever since: North America and South America. Ringmann didn't have long to live after finishing the Introduction to Cosmography .

The map, printed in 1507, measured about 1.4m by 2.4m, a size that matched its grand ambition to portray the world in its entirety. And indeed, it did depict more of the world than ever before.

After mapmakers in 1507 first attached the label America to a massive world map printed in France, they began to have serious misgivings about their choice of words.

Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters ...