Library
Library of Congress
Reading room and national library holding the ten-million-dollar map that first named America.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to the Library of Congress follows the Waldseemuller map of 1507, the first document to print the word America, from its three and a half centuries folded away in a castle library in Wolfegg, Germany, to its rediscovery by a Jesuit historian in 1901. You'll hear about Martin Waldseemuller's small team in Saint-Die piecing together reports of Amerigo Vespucci's voyages, and about the Waldburg-Wolfegg family who kept the map for generations. Listen for how word of a possible sale abroad reached Washington.
This audio guide was created using AI.