This 509-year-old map contains the first known use of the word ‘America’ — but not where you may think

The east coast of South America, the first known instance of "America" being used in a document.

Image: Library of Congress

In April 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published his Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorumque lustrationes, or The Universal Cosmography according...