As a huge fan of Martin Waldseemuller, I'm glad to see his work in the news. Cartography used to be a really cool job, requiering research and interviews, and a healthy dose of speculation.

The great thing is that history is so much more complex than the writing of it, and this map is a perfect example of that. Maps were very cloak and dagger stuff back in their day. Although the story comes down that Columbus discovered America and Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean. But a clever sleuth could have figured out that there must have been something dividing the eastern coast of China from the eastern coast of the new continent.

Also, there is the very sexy possibility that other unknown explorers had already made forays into the Pacific before Balboa got the credit.

I think its great when history starts to sound like an Arturo Perez Reverte novel!

Aliens gave Waldseemüller photos taken from the mothership.

Funny--that was my first thought, too--Aliens helped him!