Why do people who live at the United States call their country America?

Question

Hasn't anyone realized that America is an entire continent and not just United States, how can they be so selfish?

With the "entire continent" part i mean, brazil, mexico, panama, argentina, chile, u.s.a., canada, etc...

Answer 1

First -and I mean this without wanting to insult anybody- out of ignorance, if people get the facts they will see it is incorrect to call the US "America"

2nd because that is how the US public has been raised and trained that America is only the US and not the continent. As you pointed out this is rather selfish.

3rd. USA means "United States OF America" meaning it belongs to America (The continent), however US presidents are known for abusing this and taking of the name of the continent.

4th it is an unfortunate mistake because America is the whole continent and not a nation, that leaves "United States" as part of the name. But then there is a perhaps little known fact and that is that the official name of Mexico is actually "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" something like "Mexican United States".

This is a basic geography fact. So the actual proper way to refer to it must be "USA" or "United States of America" and NOT America. Along the same lines americans are all the people of the americas and not just US born individuals.

Like I said, it is unfortunate but this has been abused over and over in history. However very seldom you hear anybody outside the USA refering to the USA as "America", it happens but it is very very rare.

Answer 2

America is not an entire continent. Ever hear of South America or North America? Anyway, the United States is called The United States of America. Being the United States of America designates it as a separate part of the continent. United States ..... the states that are united.

Answer 3

Our name is actually the United States of America. Some abbreviate with United States and some with America. Thats what USA means.

Answer 4

that shawn guy is wrong!!!! ameriCo vespucci was an italian cartographer and his importance relies on that he was who actually realised cristopher columbus, the first person to touch foot on the american continent --and it was on what is now the dominican republic, back in 1492, not the us--, actually made it to a new continent not the indies as columbus actually intended. thats why america carries his name, americo.
now on why americans call their country america. i think its an unvoluntary mistake. being in the 18 and 19th centuries the usa the first country to get its liberty from the european colonisers (it got its independence long before france coined their liberte, fraternite, egalite motto and way longer before othe american nations), europeans who colonised this continent (im chilean) used to say im going to america and where would they get to? the us!!! my grandparents came from russia, from what now is lithuania (grandma) and ukraine (grandpa). their parents would say they were going to america. some relatives got to america, the usa, and my grandparents got to argentina, america as well. see? its kind of random.
u cannot blame americans for naming their country the way a whole continent names itself but its tradition. and trradition often turns into history. take the word coloniser. what would u say is the ethimology, the root, of that word??? the root is colon... the way spaniards used to call cristopher columbus. u see, the three ships columbus came to america were sponsored by the spanish crown. and what do they speak in spain? spanish! meaning the actual name of cristopher columbus was, although he was italian, Cristobal Colon. Being he the one who came to these lands first, it turned out that the act of getting somewhere and settling in was given his name --COLON-ISE... or columbu--nise in nowadays english hahaha.
hope thsi helps!

Answer 5

because the first actual person to touch foot on the present day United States was a Portugese explorer named Amerigo Vespucci.

Answer 6

because america is defined as the united states.

don't forget we have california!

Answer 7

You are right. America is not a country and people should be corrected for that mistake. I never say "American citizen" I always refer to them as "US citizens" for the same reason.