Bringing forth?

Presidential contender Newt Gingrich's comment about the Palestinians being an invented people is puzzling if meant to be pejorative. One of the great things about the United States of America is that it was invented - elevenscore and fifteen years ago. Australians too should know roughly when the word 'Australia' was first used to mean the nation we know today. On 25 August 1804, the explorer Matthew Flinders, who had circumnavigated the coastline, wrote to his brother Samuel: 'I call the whole island Australia...' He later pushed for Australia to be the official name.