Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1919 — WHERE AMERICA WAS NAMED [ARTICLE]

WHERE AMERICA WAS NAMED

House Is Still Standing In Which Learned Men Voyager an Undeserved Honor. Many readers who keep scrap-books will be glad of this morsel of curious lore. On April 25, 1507, the learned heads of the University of St. Die, in Lorraine, decided, incorrectly, that Amerigo Vespucci was entitled to the honor of discovery, Christopher Columbus having only reached the islands of the West* Indies, and that the western hemisphere should bear his name. The name “America” was, as a matter of fact, first used in the book “Cosmographiae Introduction by Martin Waldseemuller, professor of cosmography at the university. It has since been shown that Amerigo Vespucci was preceded by both Christopher Columbus and John Cabot, but it was too late —the new world had been dabbed “America,” and the fact advertised in print The house where the meeting was held at which the classical error was made still stands at St Die (Vosges), and is annually visited by many tourists, especially those from both North and South America. Hence the error of learned men Is responsible for America being named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was given an honor he clearly did not desierve.' "