Matthias Ringmann (1482–1511), also known as Philesius Vogesigena was an Alsatian German humanist scholar and cosmographer. Along with cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, he is credited with the first documented usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Ringmann was born in 1482 in the small farming village of Eichhoffen, Alsace. In 1498 he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg and then went on to study at the University of Paris. He pursued a course of studies typical for a humanist of the day, including Greek, Latin, classical literature, history, mathematics and cosmography. In 1505 he settled in Strassburg, worked at a printing press, and began to study Ptolemy's Geography. [1]
In 1505, Ringmann came across a copy of Mundus Novus, a booklet attributed to Amerigo Vespucci that described the explorer's voyage along the coast of present-day Brazil. Ringmann was familiar with the speculation of classical authors that a giant, unknown continent lay on the other side of the world and he became convinced that this is what Vespucci had encountered. Ringmann republished the work under the title Concerning the Southern Shore Recently Discovered by the King of Portugal. In July 1507, he wrote to a friend calling Vespucci "a great man of brave courage" and included this letter in the introduction to his reprint. [2] Later that same year, he traveled to Italy where he likely searched for more information about Vespucci and the lands that he had explored.
In 1506, he began another project, the first German translation of Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War . He used Ptolemy's Geography to identify the historic Roman place-names and associate them to their corresponding contemporary locations. His translation was published in 1507. [3]
Meanwhile, an association of humanist scholars was forming in Saint-Dié under the patronage of René II, Duke of Lorraine. They called themselves the Gymnasium Vosagense and their leader was Walter Lud. Their intention was to publish a new edition of Ptolemy's Geography. Ringmann was brought into the group because of his previous work with the Geography and his knowledge of Greek and Latin. Martin Waldseemüller, a cartographer, was also hired to draw and illustrate the maps for the new publication. [4]
In 1506, the Gymnasium obtained a French translation of the Soderini Letter as well as a Portuguese maritime map that detailed the coast of lands recently discovered in the western Atlantic. Ringmann again surmised that this was the "new world" or the "antipodes" hypothesized by classical writers. The Soderini Letter gave Vespucci credit for discovery of this new continent and implied that the Portuguese map was based on his explorations. They decided to put aside the Geography for the moment and publish a brief Introduction to Cosmography with an accompanying world map. The Introduction was written by Ringmann and included a Latin translation of the Soderini Letter. In a preface to the Letter, Ringmann wrote
I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women's names. [5]
A thousand copies of the Introduction and the accompanying world map were printed on April 25, 1507. It was the first time that the word 'Americas' had appeared in print. In a later edition after Ringmann's death, Waldseemüller dropped the term America and named South America "Terra Nova", but the name America was already established. [6]
After 1507, Ringmann and Waldseemüller continued working together on creating new edition of Ptolemy's Geography. In 1508 Ringmann returned to Italy and obtained a Greek Ptolemy manuscript (Codex Vaticanum Graecorum 191.). With this important reference they were apparently able to complete their project but the new Ptolemy was not published until after Ringmann's death. By 1509, Ringmann was seriously ill with tuberculosis but continued working. [7]
In 1509, he published a card game, Grammatica Figurata, to make the grammatical rules of Donatus' Ars Minor, more appealing to children. He died in 1511 in Sélestat.
The Grammatica Figurata was first published by Mathias Ringmann in 1509. This work was an attempt to enliven Donatus' Ars Minor by printing up illustrated card sets for each grammatical rule. Apparently the children would have a card set. The rules are not explained at length, but a few hints are scattered here and there in the work. The final section on "Exclamations" has a sentence on how to figure out which student has won. Each card represented a part of speech, a gender, a case, or a tense, etc. Depending upon the teacher's questions a student would play the appropriate card or cards. Long believed to be lost, one copy of Grammatica figurata was found and reprinted in 1905. [8] [9]
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived.
Martin Waldseemüller was a German cartographer and humanist scholar. Sometimes known by the Latinized form of his name, Hylacomylus, his work was influential among contemporary cartographers. His collaborator Matthias Ringmann and he are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America to name a portion of the New World in honour of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci in a world map they delineated in 1507. Waldseemüller was also the first to map South America as a continent separate from Asia, the first to produce a printed globe, and the first to create a printed wall map of Europe. A set of his maps printed as an appendix to the 1513 edition of Ptolemy's Geography is considered to be the first example of a modern atlas.
The naming of the Americas, or America, occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal, with the name given by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. However, some have suggested other explanations, including being named after the Amerrisque mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, England.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1507.
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, commonly referred to as just Saint-Dié, is a commune in the Vosges department, Grand Est, northeastern France.
Taprobana, Trapobana, and Taprobane was the name by which the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka was known to the ancient Greeks.
Cosmographiae Introductio is a book that was published in 1507 to accompany Martin Waldseemüller's printed globe and wall-map. The book and map contain the first mention of the term 'America'. Waldseemüller's book and maps, along with his 1513 edition of Ptolemy’s Geography, were very influential and widely copied at the time.
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. The term gained prominence in the early 16th century during Europe's Age of Discovery, after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin-language pamphlet Mundus Novus, presenting his conclusion that these lands, soon called America based on Amerigo's name, constitute a new continent.
The Waldseemüller map or Universalis Cosmographia is a printed wall map of the world by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first map to use the name "America". The name America is placed on South America on the main map. As explained in Cosmographiae Introductio, the name was bestowed in honor of the Italian Amerigo Vespucci.
The Johannes Schöner globes are a series of globes made by Johannes Schöner (1477–1547), the first being made in 1515. Schöner's globes are some of the oldest still in existence. Some of them are said by some authors to show parts of the world that were not yet known to Europeans, such as the Magellan Strait and the Antarctic.
The Jagiellonian globe, also known as the Globus Jagellonicus, is a mechanical armillary sphere made in France before 1510. It is an astronomical instrument and a universal clock tracking both local solar time and sidereal time. The central brass sphere is engraved with a map of Earth and contains the clock mechanism. It is the oldest extant globe to use the name America.
The year 1507 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.
The name Brazil is a shortened form of Terra do Brasil, a reference to the brazilwood tree. The name was given in the early 16th century to the territories leased to the merchant consortium led by Fernão de Loronha, to exploit brazilwood for the production of wood dyes for the European textile industry.
Cosmographia may refer to:
The exploration of North America by European sailors and geographers was an effort by major European powers to map and explore the continent with the goal of economic, religious and military expansion. The combative and rapid nature of this exploration is the result of a series of countering actions by neighboring European nations to ensure no single country had garnered enough wealth and power from the Americas to militarily tip the scales over on the European continent. It spanned the late 15th to early 17th centuries, and consisted primarily of expeditions funded by Spain, England, France, and Portugal. See also the European colonization of the Americas.
Joseph Fischer, S.J. was a German clergyman and cartographer. Fischer had an eminently successful career as a cartographer, publishing old maps. In 1901, while he was investigating the Vikings' discovery of America, he accidentally discovered the long-lost map of Martin Waldseemüller, dated 1507. This map, which claims to update Ptolemy with the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, is the first known to display the word America. The map was purchased from its owner by the United States Library of Congress in 2001 for ten million dollars.
Alfred Edmund Hudd was a native of Clifton, Bristol, England. An accountant as a young man, his means were such that he was able to pursue his interests as a naturalist and antiquarian. He was a member of a number of societies, often assuming leadership positions. Hudd is perhaps best known for his roles as author of Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the Bristol District, editor of the Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club, supervisor of the excavations undertaken by the Caerwent Exploration Fund, and author of "Richard Ameryk and the name America."
Albert Ronsin was a 20th-century French scholar, historian, librarian, and curator in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges.
Amerigo Vespucci's Letter from Seville, written to his patron Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, describes experiences on Alonso de Ojeda's May 1499 voyage. Vespucci's findings during the Age of Discovery led Spain people to believe that North and South America were not connected to Asia, which was a common belief at the time and was even held by Vespucci himself. Despite the surrounding controversy among many historians about which Vespucci letters were real, and which ones were forged, this particular letter of Vespucci's is notable for its detailed description of the Brazilian coast and its inhabitants.
Several names of the United States of America are in common use. Alternatives to the full name include "the United States", the initialisms "the U.S." and "the U.S.A.", and the informal "America"; colloquial names include "the States" and "the U.S. of A."
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Martin Waldseemüller". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.| International | |
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