[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E881-E882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAME ``AMERICA''

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                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2007

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the fifth 
centenary of the word ``America''--a name that has become

[[Page E882]]

synonymous with opportunity, equality, freedom and hope.
  On April 25, 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller and 
Vautran Ludd, Chaplain to the Duke of Lorraine, created a map that gave 
the name ``America'' to the new world discovered by Christopher 
Columbus 15 years earlier. According to historical accounts, the name 
was a tribute to Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator who made 4 
voyages to the new world between 1497 and 1504.
  Waldseemueller and Ludd published 1,000 copies of the map that first 
coined the term ``America,'' and I am proud to say that the only 
surviving copy--a priceless relic of our shared heritage--now resides 
in the Library of Congress, after being purchased in 2003 from the 
German Prince Waldburg-Wolfegg for $10 million.
  In the 500 years that have passed since the word ``America'' was 
first used, the term has become more of an idea than a name--a concept 
that celebrates what is best about humanity; a principle that defines 
what liberty, justice and unity are really all about; and a goal for 
the people of the world to strive towards.
  We have come a long way over the last half-millennium--from a name on 
a piece of paper to a moral, political and economic leader among 
nations. And it gives me great pride to mark this momentous occasion on 
the House Floor and to join people all over the world in celebrating 
the fifth centenary of the word ``America''--a notion that now means so 
much to so many people from all walks of life.

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