If the first map to represent the American continent is that of Juan de la Cosa, made in the year 1500, and the first in which the name America appears to identify it is the so-called Universalis Cosmographia of Martin Waldseemüller, of 1507, the first globe that showed the New World was created by none other than Leonardo da Vinci in 1504.

However, that it was Leonardo's work was not known when on June 16, 2012 it was discovered at the London cartographic fair organized by the Royal Geographical Society. A Dutch dealer was trying to sell it as if it were a 19th century object, and would later state that he had just acquired it that same day from another colleague, so the provenance of the artifact remains unknown.

The Ostrich Egg Globe. Photo: Davidguam/Wikimedia Commons