Amerigo Vespucci
How America Got Her Name
If you’re easily triggered by Western expansion, you may not want to read this. It is not my intent; it’s just a matter of history and curiosity, because for the longest time I simply wondered how America got her name since the history books said (tho’ they were wrong) that Columbus discovered America. So, if you too are curious about this origin, here is the tragic and twisting story.
In the Age of Discovery, Amerigo Vespucci (what a great Italian name) was an explorer in the years soon after Columbus. His first voyage was in 1501, with a few other Atlantic crossings that followed.
At that time, England, Spain, and Portugal had the arrogance to divide the unknown worlds among themselves along particular lines of latitude, parallel to the equator. England claimed everything North of 23.5 degrees (the Tropic of Cancer), which is why Americans speak English. Spain claimed everything South of 23.5 degrees, but North of the equator, which is why Mexicans speak Spanish. And Portugal claimed everything South of the equator and that’s why Brazilians speak Portuguese.
When Amerigo Vespucci first sailed, he was sponsored by Portugal, so after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, he turned left, sailing South to follow almost the entire coastline of the 4th continent, still not yet named. Only a decade prior, the known…
