The first person to name the problem was Francis Guthrie, in 1852. He was a law student in England, at the time. He found that he needed at least four colors to color a map of the counties of England. Augustus de Morgan first discussed the problem, in a letter he wrote to Rowan Hamliton in August 1852. In the letter, de Morgan asks whether four colors are really enough to color a map, such that countries that are next to each other get different colors. 