2006-07-31 08:30:15 · 10 answers · asked by ericmarcmarie 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
Back in the early seventeen hundreds, explorers from many European countries were exploring every bay and inlet around the continents of North and South America.
Cartographers were drawing maps as fast as the information was coming in from the ship's captains.
In one map room, one person said that there is a very large area in the middle of South America ( about the area that is now Brazil ) that was un-named. Mercatur ( the same guy that is known for his projection ) said that an Italian explorer was sailing up one of the rivers in that area, why not name the area in his honor. His name was Amerigo Vespucci.
So they wrote the name America in the center of South America. When the map was reproduced many times,and was used by other cartographer, they drew the name America, not only on the large vacant portions of South America, but also on all the rest of North America that hadn't yet been explored or named.
That's the way that two large continents were named in honor of a captain who did nothing of note. In fact, he was a very minor explorer.
2006-07-31 08:51:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
America was named after Amerigo Vespucci who is believed to discover America. Yes, Christopher Columbus discovered the land here first but Amerigo Vespucci realized that he did not land in Asia as Columbus believed. There is still a lot of debate about who really discovered America first but Amerigo Vespucci got the name rights.
2006-07-31 08:35:40 · answer #2 · answered by amelia v 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Amerigo Vespucci sailed up the coast of north and south America in the 1500s sending letters telling those in Europe of a place seperate from Asia and of its people. Martin Waldseemüller a map maker made a new map including the new world and put America across the southern part of it and the name America stuck.
2006-07-31 08:35:33 · answer #3 · answered by unknwndreamer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Traditionally, the name is assumed to be after Amerigo Vespucci. He signed his maps "Amerigo," and it was interpreted that he was either the discoverer or that he was labeling the continent. But there is another possibility. Some people claim that the Welsh may have gotten to America before Columbus (there is a tribe of Indians with blue eyes), and there is a group of Welshmen with a name even closer to "America" than "Amerigo." I think it is Americ.
2006-08-01 02:00:25 · answer #4 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"America" is not a country, of course. But the name comes from "Amerigo Vespucci", an explorer and mapmaker who first drew the Americas on a map.
2006-07-31 08:33:23 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was a typo for the person who used to make maps it was originally Amerigo, but someone spelled it wrong and it became America.*
2006-07-31 08:34:53 · answer #6 · answered by NAT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an explorer who was one of the first explorers in the new world.
2006-07-31 08:34:40 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
From the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci. Learned that in grade school.
2006-07-31 13:20:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Amerigo Vespuci ?sp?
2006-07-31 08:33:35 · answer #9 · answered by Adam P 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
IT WAS NAMED AFTER AN EXPLORER CALLED AMERIGO VESPUCCI OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I THINK THAT'S HOW HIS NAME IS SPELLED.
2006-07-31 08:34:23 · answer #10 · answered by Sam 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋