1507,America gets its name, nearly fifteen years after Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the New World. A German cartographer first uses the term on a world map to refer to the huge land mass in the Western Hemisphere. The name is in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian navigator.

1945,During WWII, American and Soviet troops in Europe meet on the Elbe River. It's a sign that the collapse of Nazi Germany and the end of the war in Europe are near.

1990,“Ah, first of NASA's great observatories is now on station at 330 nautical miles above the earth.” Space Shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit around the Earth.

And 1918,“A-tisket A-tasket A brown and yellow basket I send a letter.” Ella Fitzgerald, one of the great jazz singers of the 20th Century, is born in Newport News, Virginia.

Today in History, April 25th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.