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A 500-year-old world map that was the first to name a newfound continent west of Europe "America" was sold for one million dollars at an auction(拍卖) in Christie’’s in London. Charles Frodshan, a London book and manuscript dealer, bought the map for 545,600 pounds during bidding at Christie’’s. Christie’’s said the map was also the first printed portrayal(肖像图) of the Earth as a globe, the first that distinguishes North and South America individually, and the first complete picture of the Pacific Ocean. Printed in 1507 by the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, the map is just one of five in existence and had been expected to sell for between 500,000 and 800,000 pounds. The document, which is the most important article in the sale of maps, atlases and globes by Christie’’s, was discovered in February 2003 after a European collector realized that it was one of the maps in his collection. "This is one of the most exciting discoveries of my career, and represents the peak in the history of map making... This simple sheet of paper holds so many new and anticipated discoveries, all created with an enormous leap of faith by a venerable geographer in a small town in Lorraine (eastern France)," said Tom Lamb, director of the auction house’’s book and manuscript department, in a statement. Most history documents credit the Genoa-born explorer, Christopher Columbus, with being the first European to discover the so-called New World of North and South America in 1492, but he was convinced it was part of Asia. A second Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, actually argued that the landmass to the west of Europe was a whole new continent. Until the map’’s publication, the layout of the world had been based on the knowledge of the ancient Greeks. But in 1505, Rene II, the Duke of Lorraine ordered a group of scholars led by Waldseemuller to draft a new world map. He gave them a French translation of Vespucci’’s travels and as a result, the scholars decided to name the new landmass "America" after the traveler’’s first name. What was the most special about die map sold at an auction in London