[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 56 (Friday, March 30, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF A RESOLUTION CELEBRATING THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                   FIRST USE OF THE NAME ``AMERICA''

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2007

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today with my 
colleagues Representatives Alcee Hastings, Joe Wilson, and Hoyer, to 
honor the upcoming 500th anniversary of the coining of the name 
``America.'' On April 25, 1507 cartographer Martin Waldseemuller of the 
research group Gymnasium Vosagense in Saint-Die', France changed the 
way Europeans perceived the world by first depicting the Western 
Hemisphere in his 1507 world map. Waldseemuller honored Amerigo 
Vespucci by labeling this land with the Italian navigator's Christian 
name. Although explorers like Christopher Columbus already discovered 
this land, Amerigo Vespucci was the first to realize that it was not 
India but an entirely new continent. I invite my fellow Americans to 
join me and the House of Representatives in celebrating the historic 
500th anniversary of the coining of this great name. Lastly, I also 
want to welcome Representative Hastings as a new member of the 
Americans Abroad Caucus, which I along with Representative Wilson have 
co-founded.

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