How America Got Its Name

Morning Americans!

Have you ever wondered where America got its name?

Because Christopher Columbus discovered it, right? So why isn’t it called Columbia or something?

Lemme tell you the story…

So it's the late 1400s.

Rich people in Europe are really craving their spices.

The issue is, spice wasn't found anywhere near these European dudes.

So, to get the spices they wanted so much, they had a couple of options…

Imagine a GIANT compass.

Option 1: Go North

Go up north?? (Nah, giant ice blocks).

Option 2: Go East

Follow the Silk Road (Nah, it's quite dangerous, lots of Mongols and lots of middlemen).

Option 3: Go South

Go round Africa (Nah, we have figured out that you can even do this yet)

Option 4: Go West

Go west into the Atlantic (Don't be so silly, nothing’s out there lol)

But there was one guy who did think there would be something out there.

Christopher Columbus!

He was like: “I think I might be able to travel west to get a shortcut to the spice country.”

For context, educated people did kinda accept that the world was not flat and in fact round, but they had no idea how big this big blue ball actually was.

So Columbus went to Portugal and was like:

So, a while later, Columbus went to Spain to try instead.

And so Spain gave Columbus 3 ships and a bunch of men.

The only catch?

Spain will receive 90% of whatever Columbus finds.

Columbus was totally cool with this.

So off he went, sailing west.

Expecting to at some point bump into the East Indies and Japan.

And that's exactly what he did.

Or at least… that's what he thought he did.

He thought he landed in Asia.

This news went everywhere: “Some Columbus guy had found a shortcut to Asia across the Atlantic.”

And this Italian guy called Amerigo Vespucci hears this story and is like:

So Amerigo goes to Spain, somehow convinces them to give him some ships, and he sets out west.

But Amerigo went a little further south and ran into modern-day Brazil.

So then they continue traveling south along the coast of “India”.

Then they travel more south.

Then they travel MORE MORE south.

Until finally they reach the bottom (modern day Chile)

Vespucci is like:

And guess what?

He was right.

Columbus denied this, of course, going to his grave believing he landed in Asia, when in fact it was a whole new world.

After a while, this new world was mapped by this german cartographer guy called Waldseemüller.

Creating this beautiful, albeit not too accurate, map of the world:

And when it came to naming this massive new continent, he named it not after the man that landed there first…

But after the man who called it out for the new continent, it truly was!

Naming the land mass in the Latin version of Amerigo… America!

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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