USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who set forth the then revolutionary concept that the lands that Christopher Columbus sailed to in 1492 were part of a separate continent.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hudd reasoned that the scholars of the 1507 Cosmographiae Introductio, unfamiliar with Richard Ameryk, assumed that the name America, which he claimed had been in use for ten years, was based on Amerigo Vespucci and, therefore, mistakenly transferred the honour from Ameryk to Vespucci.

Detailed explanation-3: -The claim inspired cartographer Martin Waldseemüller to recognize Vespucci’s accomplishments in 1507 by applying the Latinized form “America” for the first time to a map showing the New World. Other cartographers followed suit, and by 1532 the name America was permanently affixed to the newly discovered continents.

Detailed explanation-4: -All countries were seen as feminine (like her lady Liberty today), so Waldseemüller used a feminine, Latinized form of Amerigo to name the new continents “America.” Cartographers tended to copy one another’s choices, so Columbus was left off the map. The rest is history.