The earth is placed in the central region of the cosmos, standing fast in the center, equidistant from all other parts of the sky . . . . It is divided into three parts, one of which is called Asia, the second Europe, the third Africa . . . . Apart from these three parts of the world there exists a fourth part, beyond the ocean, which is unknown to us.--Isidore of Seville, Etymologies (circa A.D. 600)

To the four parts of my little world: Catherine, Emma, Kate, and Sage

Old maps lead you to strange and unexpected places, and none does so more ineluctably than the subject of this book: the giant, beguiling Waldseemüller world map of 1507.

What the map ultimately charts, in other words, is nothing less than the contours of the human experience itself: the never-ending attempt to imagine a place for ourselves in the world.