The origin of the name "America"

[Vigilante]

http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html

Quote:

AMERICA, we learn as schoolchildren, was named in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, for his discovery of the mainland of the New World. We tend not to question this lesson about the naming of America. By the time we are adults it lingers vaguely in most of us, along with images of wave-tossed caravels and forests peopled with naked cannibals. Not surprisingly, the notion that America was named for Vespucci has long been universally accepted, so much so that a lineal descendant, America Vespucci, came to New Orleans in 1839 and asked for a land grant "in recognition of her name and parentage." Since the late 19th century, however, conflicting ideas about the truth of the derivation have been set forth with profound cultural and political implications. To question the origin of America's name is to question the nature of not only our history lessons but our very identity as Americans.

[Vigilante]

How did America gets its name? This book sounds quite interesting and it's as good an explanation as anything else.

Extract

"Broome's book 'Terra Incognita - The True Story of How America Got Its Name' presents the argument that America was named after wealthy Bristol merchant Richard Amerike, who was an overseas trader living just outside the city in Long Ashton……………………………………..According to Broome the answer is simple - English fishermen visited Newfoundland long before Christopher Columbus or John Cabot crossed the Atlantic. 'Bristol merchants bought salt cod in Iceland until the King of Denmark stopped the trade in 1475,' he said.

'In l479, four Bristol merchants received a royal charter to find another source of fish and trade.

'Not until 1960 did someone find bills of trading records indicating that Richard Amerike was involved in this business…………………………..Amerike, whose surname possibly comes from a corruption of the Welsh name 'ap Meric', also had a coat of arms which, if it is to be believed, is a third piece of evidence in the linkage with the USA.

: Six vertical stripes form the background to a row of three horizontal stars, and the crest's colours include red, white and blue.: Is the obvious resemblance to the modern day stars and stripes an amazing coincidence, or something more concrete?"

More info here:

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_b...sages/529.html