AMERICA "BAPTISED."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1937, Page 11

AMERICA "BAPTISED."

A lfitli century printer's house— where 1 lie word " America" wn< lirst printed- -may be purchased by Americans us ail historical relic. The hoii-e is II the pleasant little town of Saint Die. in the Vosges. In l.'illT. fifteen, year* a ftcr ('o!umbus discovered America, a group of scholars editing the writings of Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, wrote a foreword describing the explorations of Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian navigator, who made several voyages to what is- now known as South America. They suggested that his name in feminine form to correspond with Europa, Asia and Africa should be given to the new fourth continent. One of their number, Martin Waldseemueller, drew • a map on which he marked the new land as "America." The book and map were then handed to a local printer, named Razin. The map still exists in Soint Pie, and so does Ba/.in's house, now a chemist's shop. A tablet affixed to the shop commemorates the baptism of America, and now Americans are anxious to buy the building and present it to Saint Die as a permanent memorial.