Amerigo Vespucci

It dawned on me in the last few days that I don't think the president knows the history of how America was named. I say this, not because it is all that big of an issue, the crazy grandpa in the White House who pushes to rename things, the Gulf of America, Lake America, and possibly the American Ocean, but because it illustrates not only his lack of knowledge of history, specifically that of our country, but also the dearth of knowledge that so many of his acolytes (and, to be honest, most Americans for that matter) exhibit when they talk about our shared history.

So, while I would bet dollars to donuts that if asked, DJT would not be able to answer which explorer America was named after, it is also true that most Americans do not know as well, nor do they know how it came to be that the "new world" discovered by the Europeans in the late 15th, early 16th century was named America.

Obviously, the answer to that first question is embedded in the title of the post. But before we get into that, let's not ignore the following facts (not hyperbole, or conjecture, facts).

People had been living in the "Americas" for about 23,000 years, possibly longer. If you wish to read an informative article concerning some of the research into who and when people first came to this area of the world, I found the following article very interesting.

https://scienceinsights.org/who-were-the-first-inhabitants-of-north-america/ 

So, in reality, our country was called any number of different things by the people who lived here for far longer than it was called North America, let alone the United States of America. 

And, for those of you who have forgotten, or were never taught this, the Europeans who sailed across the Atlantic starting with Columbus in the late 15th century were not the first people from the "Old World" to navigate to this side of the world. 

It has become established history that the Vikings used stopovers in Iceland and Greenland to reach North America, specifically, the area now known as Newfoundland, Canada, almost 500 years prior to Columbus and the other more famous European explorers. 

Here is an article about the Vikings if you are interested.

https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/vikings-north-america/ 

Of course, knowledge of the Vikings did not exist in the time of Columbus. In fact, many people of that time, including Columbus himself, thought that by sailing east from Europe he would reach Asia. Which, technically was true, except that they didn't know there was a huge land mass in the way.

So, if you are wondering why the Indigenous people of the Americas were referred to as Indians, it is because Columbus thought he had landed in the West Indies so he referred to the people he "discovered" there as Indians. In fact, that name went on to be used to label all the Indigenous peoples who were found by the Europeans when they landed in North and South America. 

In other words, for the vast amount of human existence, at least from the standpoint of the European perspective, the land encompassing the United States did not exist, not in maps of the world, not in educational materials in Europe, not in any of the intellectual circles of the day. 

That thought, is pretty dizzying, if you think about it. 

Like most of you, I was taught the historical ditty

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue

As a way to remember who was the first European to land in the Americas. Of course, that wasn't quite accurate, (see Vikings link above), but it made for a good story and aligned with our prejudices to believe that before Europeans, the Americas were just sitting there, waiting for the divine intervention that would inspire brave explorers to sail the unknown oceans. 

At this point, if you are wondering just how this continent was named America, and not Columbia or Christoland, well that is where the story of Amerigo Vespucci comes into play.

Vespucci was also an explorer during the time of Columbus. He also made a few voyages across the Atlantic, although just how many has been cause for debate since his death.

What does appear to be true however, is that he sent correspondences, and had better access to the influencers of the day who "made the news", so to speak. And the maps. So, once it was determined that Columbus had not actually reached the West Indies/Asia, the realization that a "new world" had been discovered swept Europe. And, as it happened, some of this speculation and realization was inspired by Vespucci's letters and those who he contacted. 

The following link goes into great detail about this process, and explains it far better than I just did. If interested  

https://www.understandingitaly.com/amerigo-vespucci.html 

So, what do you think? Did you know the reason why we are called the Americas and not the Columbias?

For me, I had learned about Vespucci somewhere during my education, elementary or high school, I don't remember, although still found the details of the story as related in the "understandingitaly..." link above extremely fascinating.

But, again, do you think the president knows? I sure would like a reporter to ask him. Would he say we were named after Columbus? Perhaps America was his middle name? Or, if he knows about Vespucci, would he know why he got the credit?

In the end, it often reminds me how silly this renaming business is when I remember the story about the two very serious fleas who were arguing about who owned the land they lived on, all the while not knowing that the "land" was the fur of a dog, or cat, if you prefer.

Anyway, a toast to Amerigo Vespucci, merchant, explorer, source of all that denotes the greatness of America. Perhaps once he learns (or remembers, if I were to give him the benefit of the doubt) that it was Vespucci who our great continent was named for, DJT will have a great golden statue "like no one has ever seen before" erected in his name. 

Hopefully, he won't believe the internet rumor that Amerigo's real first name was Albericus. Then he will have to start all over

Gulf of Alberica

Lake Alberica

Albericus Ocean