,~I',~'::ft(J.~...i".~,~'-I1,(
Sp~"ijll("" '1Ut$l.America.Until th e arrivalofEuropeans1I01leofrhc
AmerindiantribesknewhowtoHuh,Iron. Andthe
spindlew ho rlwasexactlyliketho seusedin known
Vikiu~landssuch asIcelan d ,TheVikill~swerea sea-goingpeoplefrom
Scandinav iainnorthe rnEurope,T heywereproudo f
th eirw arriors andexplorers andto ldsto riescalled
"sagas" aboutthem.The sag;1ofLcifEricsonte lls
ho whe sailedfromGreenla n dtoth e easte rncoas tof
NorthAmer icain abou t t heyl,.'ar.... 11 1("10 .Whenhe
foundvineswithgrapesOilth emg ro w ingthere .he
namedtheplacewhere 11l'laud ed"Vinlandth e
Good."
OtherVikingsfollowedLcifro Vinlnnd. Bu tthe
sett lementsrhcym adeth eredidnotlast. T he
hostility of thelocalAmerindiansandthedangersof
thenorthernseascom bine dtom akethemg Iveu p
their attemptcoco lonizeVinlmd.T he Vikin gs sailed
awayami th eirdiscoveryofVin b ndwasforgotten
exceptbyth eirsro rytcllcrs.
It wasth e Span ishwhobeganth e lasti ngEuro pean
occupatio nofAmerica.WhenColumbusreturn ed to
Spainhetookback withhunsomcjcwclrvthathe
hadobtainedinAmerica.Thisjcwclrvwas
importantbecauseit wasm adeofgold.Inthen ext
jiflYyearsthousandsofrrcasurc-bungrvSpa nish
WhyisAmericacalled
uAmerica"Why did Europeangeographers give th ename
Amer icatoth e landsthatColumbusdisco ver ed?
Why did-the y not name rhcm in stead after
Columbus?The reasonis th attothe endofhislife C o lu m bus
believ ed th at his disco veri eswere part ofASIa.
TI1l'm anwho did mosttocorrec tthismistaken
idea was Amerigo Vcspucci. Vcspucci w asan
Italiansai lo rfromth e cityofFlo rence.I)uring the
late 149 0s he wrote S0111e le t ters in wh ich he
describe d twovoyage sofe xplo ration thathe had
nu dealong the coastsofSouth Amcri ca.IIcwas
sure. he w ro te. that these coasts were parr of a
newcontinent.
SomeyearslaterVcsp ucci's lett ers w ererea d b y a
Ger man sch olar w howasrn 'isin gano ldgeogra-
ph y of the wo rld. The loner s con vinced th e
scho lar th at Vcspnc ciWJS correct.and that th e
lan ds beyondth e Atlantic wereaIl I.'Wcont ine nt.
To honor Vcspu cci th...· scho lar nam ed th em
America,usingthe feminineform o fv cspucci's
first name as th e other con ti nen ts had female
n a mes.