He wasn’t first but he got the credit

Plus…a very big ditch and, even for the Queen, “we don’t do benefits.”

for Wednesday, April 25, the 116th day of 2012

1507: German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller produced a world map containing the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci did make two voyages to the New World but not until several years after Christopher Columbus. But then again, Leif Ericson got here about 500 years before that!

1859: work on a ditch of major proportions began. It was the Suez Canal…

…also known by the nickname “The Highway to India”, is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows transportation by water between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa.

And in music news…

1968: These entertainers refused to perform for the Queen of England at a British Olympic Appeal Fund show. Their explanation, “We don’t do benefits.” It was the Beatles.