MARCH IS THE NEW YEAR? - 1452 MAP - Little is known about the 15th-century Venetian geographer and cosmographer Giovanni Leardo, beyond the fact that three of his world maps have survived from late-medieval times, signed by their creator. This is the oldest world map held in the library of the American Geographical Society, and it is considered the finest example of a medieval mappamundi in the Western hemisphere. Leardo's two other maps, similar but not identical, are in Italy, at the Bibliotec