Juan de la Cosa was a Castilian navigator and cartographer, known for designing the earliest European world map which incorporated the territories of the Americas discovered in the 15th century. De la Cosa was the owner and master of the Santa María, and thus played an important role in the first and second voyage of Christopher Columbus to the West Indies.

La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción, or La Santa María, originally La Gallega, was the largest of the three small ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, with the backing of the Spanish monarchs. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa.