what was the new world and old world
New World
Even prior to Vespucci , several maps , e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504 , placed a large open ocean between China on the east side of the map , and the inchoate largely water - surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map . However , out of uncertainty , they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map , suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere ( e.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as `` Punta d'Asia '' - `` edge of Asia '' ) . Some maps , e.g. the 1506 Contarini -- Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map , bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus 's assertions , have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America ( Labrador , Newfoundland , etc . ) . These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent - Vespucci 's `` New World '' proper - detached and floating below by itself . The Waldseemüller map of 1507 , which accompanied the famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume ( which includes reprints of Vespucci 's letters ) comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea ( with no stretching land fingers ) between Asia on the eastern side and the New World ( being represented two times in the same map in a different way : with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America ) on the western side - which ( on what is now named South America ) that same map famously labels simply `` America '' . However , Martin Waldseemüller 's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority , with the Asian land mass merging into North America ( which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis ) , and quietly drops the `` America '' label from South America , calling it merely Terra Incognita .
Even prior to Vespucci , several maps , e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504 , placed a large open ocean between China on the east side of the map , and the inchoate largely water - surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map . However , out of uncertainty , they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map , suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere ( e.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as `` Punta d'Asia '' - `` edge of Asia '' ) . Some maps , e.g. the 1506 Contarini -- Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map , bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus 's assertions , have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America ( Labrador , Newfoundland , etc . ) . These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent - Vespucci 's `` New World '' proper - detached and floating below by itself . The Waldseemüller map of 1507 , which accompanied the famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume ( which includes reprints of Vespucci 's letters ) comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea ( with no stretching land fingers ) between Asia on the eastern side and the New World ( being represented two times in the same map in a different way : with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America ) on the western side - which ( on what is now named South America ) that same map famously labels simply `` America '' . However , Martin Waldseemüller 's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority , with the Asian land mass merging into North America ( which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis ) , and quietly drops the `` America '' label from South America , calling it merely Terra Incognita .