Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-29
ODE INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 HISTORY
HOW AND WHERE AMERICA WAS
 NAMED


 The claim of having given the name America" to our country has frequently been discussed and is still somewhat in dispute The little town of SaFlt Die, France. seems to have the undisputed distinction of having done so, at least on April 25 1907. they celebrated this honor in the little village in the province of Vosges, and sent President Theodore Roosevelt an invitation to be present. In a letter to the municipality he replied: There is no monument in France that 1 am more des;rous of seeing that the house that is 90 close-y linked with the history Of my country"
 Not only does Saint Die contain the house wherein sat the savants who de- cided to give the name America to the newly discovered continent, but it was in this same town that a book was written which was the incentive that led to the discovery of the new world.
 In 1410 a Frenchman named Pierre d'Ailly wrote book called Imago Mundi CThe Image of the Universe). This book was read and meditated over by the great navigator, Christopher Columbus, and first gave him the idea of seeking the unknown land.
 Pierre d'Ailly was born of poor parents in Champagne in 1880. He became e
 
 by his own merits rose to the exalted position of cardinal. In his work Inago ] MunM, d'Ailly sustained the thesis that 1 the whole world was habttable and in- l habited and according to his belief other 1 lands existed which were as yet un- ] known in Europe
 i How could one get there?' he asked 1 Prom a Spanish port under favor- 1 able wind was the answer. l This statement, however was mixed up with many extravagant opinions often | impracticable and fantastic but these l very extravagances of thought stimuiat- 1 ed the imagination of Columbus who read and reflected over the strange views 1 put forth.
 1 Savants have also shown that it was a Frenchman's idea and his plan that l finally bestowed the name America on 1 the newly discovered land. A volume | was published at Saint Die by Mathis Ringemann under the title of Introdueto Cosmographioe. suggesting that the most 1 appropriate name for the new country would be America A group of savants who were the heads of the Vostien col lege of Saint Die met in the now famous house and agreed that America was the most beftting name by which the new world should be called. This was on April 25, 1907.
 Columbus died in f5o6 Americas Yes
 pucius survived the great naigator siS
 years. Vespucius was 8 clever pilot, ana
 after his arrival on the new shores he
 put forth the claim that the glory was
 his-he had discovered the mainland
 while Columbus had only landed on the
 islands. Notwithstanding the fact thai
 his merit assuredly. was secondary
 quickly gained widespread fame, as al
 account of his voyage was the first to bt
 published.
 Saint Die is a quaint old town situated
 on the two banks of the River Meuthr,
 at the foot of the blue line of maiestit mountains which is so admirably describ ed by Jules Ferry The house whicl harbored the men who selected the nam America stands, at last accounts, as rug ged and strong as it did in the earl, r part of the 18th century. To approac] the place or square where it stands on . has to traverse narrow, circuitous streets l pass under picturesque arcades of pinkis] graystone which the brush of time ha I softened into a beautiful opal coIorine when one finds himself suddenly in tn . center of a wide open space The ey f ] quickly alights on plaeard which : fastened on a rather broad. low buildins ]. This tablet records in a few words th ;, importance of this historical edihce n The name of the person who suggeste 6 America is said to have been Germa | named Martin Wa1dseemuller. who at in 2 time was the professor of geography Z
 the Academy of Saint Die. n the Frenc
 village in the NoSges mountains of I4ol r raine
 Monday: The Battle of the Kegs.