Geography - Regions and continents - The Americas - Historical cartography
Why is America called “America”?
Correct!
The name “America” goes back to the Italian navigator and merchant Amerigo Vespucci. After his voyages, Vespucci argued that the lands reached by Europeans were not simply part of Asia but a previously unknown separate landmass. In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller used “America” for parts of the New World on his famous world map, the first documented use of the name. It was the Latinized form of Amerigo Vespucci’s first name. It initially referred to parts of present-day South America and later came to include North America as well. Curiously, Waldseemüller temporarily omitted the name from later maps, but it had already spread too widely to disappear.
Source: Library of Congress
