What was the north american continent named before it was given a name?

Answer 1

Indigenous People referred to the Continental U.S. as Turtle Island.

Answer 2

North and South America are widely accepted as having been named after Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. Vespucci was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a new world, previously undiscovered by Europeans.

The second and less generally accepted theory is that the continents are named after an English merchant named Richard Amerike from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497. A minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of 'Amairick'. Another is that the name is rooted in an American Indian language

Answer 3

There is an alternative theory regarding the original naming of the continent stemming from the Old Norse "Ommerike" meaning furthest land on the attached link.

As regards what the continent as a whole was called - I don't believe any one prior to the Europeans getting right across the continent to the west coast actually thought of it as a continental land mass and therefore there was no name to describe it.

The native American Indians had names for their own locales, and the Norse men had names for various bits of the mainland. Neither had a word for the whole continent, as they didn't know it was a continent.

Answer 4

how_are_u gave a great history lesson, but didn't answer your question.

As far as anyone knows the North American continent had no name before being designated "America" on maps. The various groups of Native Americans may very well have had a name for the lands they knew, but it is doubtful that any of them designated one name for the whole continent.

Answer 5

Let's agree this question is quite nonsensical... or perhaps I have to improve my English...

Before it was given a name, it had no name!!

Answer 6

the vikings called north america vineland prior to to being labeled america

Answer 7

You just willingly contradicted yourself. Thanks for the deuce!