218 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts, and Letters. 



The new name America, having mastered the Southern, 

 that is the largest, richest and best known half of the West- 

 ern world, naturally spread over its outlying peninsulas, and 

 the Northern portion was still either viewed as nothing more 

 than one of them, or most of it was deemed more likely to 

 be joined to Asia than to South America. 



At some date, however, between 1548 and 1570, North 

 America had also grown in men's minds to the dimensions of 

 a continent, or at least to half that size, for on a map of 1570, 

 the entire new world is inscribed America. This map of 1570 

 is the most ancient of all the goodly number in the library of 

 our Wisconsin Historical Society. Its imprint is Antwerp. 

 This map of the new world is inscribed near the Arctic eircle, 

 America, sive India Nova. The northern and southern por- 

 tions are described as the northern and southern peninsulas, 

 but neither of them is inscribed with any general name. It 

 is added that the southern peninsula was called Terra Firma 

 by Spaniards. 



This map also shows a southern continent encircling the 

 whole globe and at certain points almost touching the equator. 



There is a wide channel from Baffin's Bay to the Pacific, 

 although our portion of the northern peninsula stretches so far 

 westward that its western shore is almost in sight of Japan. 



When the name America was extended from pole to pole 

 it lost its hold on Brazil, and it would seem for a time on the 

 two grand divisions of the New World. 



In Heylin's '* Cosmographie," long in great repute, published 

 in 1652, we read that " the fourth and last part of the world 

 is called by some and most aptly the New World, but 

 the most usual and yet somewhat the more improper name 

 is America." "The whole is naturally divided into two great 

 peninsulas, whereof that towards the north is called Mexicana, 

 and that towards the south hath the name Peruana." On 

 Heylin's map, however, the northern peninsula is inscribed 

 "America Mexicana," the southern "Peruana America." 



