[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 287 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 287

    To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first use of the name 
                  ``America'', and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 29, 2007

  Mr. Hastings of Florida (for himself, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
   Hoyer, and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first use of the name 
                  ``America'', and for other purposes.

Whereas Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci was born in 1454 and traveled across 
        the Atlantic Ocean 4 times between 1497 and 1504;
Whereas during his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere in 1499, Amerigo 
        Vespucci realized that the land Christopher Columbus discovered in 1492 
        was not India but a new continent;
Whereas cartographer Martin Waldseemuller, a member of the research group 
        Gymnasium Vosagense in Saint-Die, France, first used the word 
        ``America'' in his world map, which first appeared in public on April 
        25, 1507, and described the newly discovered Western Hemisphere as 
        separated by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans;
Whereas Waldseemuller chose to honor Amerigo Vespucci by naming the new 
        continent with Vespucci's name even while Vespucci was alive;
Whereas Waldseemuller described this decision in his ``Cosmographiae 
        Introductio'', the book that accompanied the map, by writing, ``I see no 
        reason why anyone should justly object to calling this part ... America, 
        after Amerigo [Vespucci], its discoverer, a man of great ability.''; and
Whereas April 25, 2007, will be the 500th anniversary of this first public use 
        of the word ``America'', which now serves as the root of the names of 2 
        continents: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) celebrates the 500th anniversary of the first use of 
        the name ``America'' to describe areas in the Western 
        Hemisphere;
            (2) honors the explorations of Amerigo Vespucci and other 
        navigators who contributed to the discovery of the Western 
        Hemisphere;
            (3) acknowledges the significance of Martin Waldseemuller's 
        1507 map of the world and accompanying book, ``Cosmographiae 
        Introductio'', which forever changed the accepted geographical 
        view of the world and first officially used the name 
        ``America''; and
            (4) encourages the inhabitants of all countries of the 
        Western Hemisphere who have the privilege to share this great 
        name ``America'' to join with the House of Representatives and 
        citizens of the United States of America in this historic 
        celebration.
                                 <all>