Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush at the St. Petersburg G8 summit
Photo: Михаил Разуваев
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Merkel Presents Historical Map to U.S.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has given the U.S. Library of Congress the map on which the continents of the New World are first called “America.” Experts at the library say that the map was made by cleric and cartographer Martin Waldseemuller in 1507. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are also differentiated on the map. The continents were named in honor of Italian sailor Amerigo Vespucci.
Merkel called the map “America's birth certificate” in the course of the presentation ceremony and called Waldzeemuller and Vespucci “America's godfathers.” In a letter accompanying the map, the cartographer explained why he named the New World in honor of Vespucci and not Christopher Columbus. “I see no reason not to name that part of the Earth American,” that is Amerigo's land, in honor of that astute explorer,” he wrote. Columbus died in 1506 believing that all four of his voyages had been to India.
The presentation of the map to was symbolic. The map was acquired by the Library of Congress with the help of private benefactors for $10 million in 2001. The transaction was completed in 2003 and placed in a Library repository. An official ceremony was necessary before the map could be turned over to the Library's control, however, since it had been on the list of cultural treasures of Germany. The Library of Congress will put the map on permanent display in December of this year.
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