Who is America named after?
Amerigo Vespucci. He outfitted his own voyage to look for the Indian subcontinent (which had eluded Columbus). He sailed in 1499, seven years after Columbus first landed in the West Indies. Vespucci made trips in 1499 and 1502, and possibly again in 1503. On Vespucci’s second trip, he realized he wasn’t looking at India at all but at an entirely new continent. He verified it by following the coast of South America down to within 400 miles of Tierra del Fuego. A German amateur geographer named Martin Waldseemüller wrote about the new land mass Vespucci had explored: “I see no reason why anyone should justly object to calling this part … America, after Amerigo its discoverer, a man of great ability.” He printed a map with the name “America” spread across the southern continent of the New World. Thousands of copies of the map were sold across Europe. The power of the printed word is such that once that happened the name stuck and could not be changed.
Surprise! – It’s actually Richard Ameryk, a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant. He set foot on American soil in 1497, pre-dating Vespucci by 2 years. As the chief patron of the voyage, Richard Ameryk would have expected discoveries to be named after him. Vespucci never reached North America (only South America). All the early maps and trade were British. Nor did Vespucci ever use the term ‘America’ for his discovery. There’s a good reason for this. New countries or continents were never named after a person’s first name, but always after the second (as in Tasmania, Van Diemen’s Land or the Cook Islands). America would have become Vespucci Land (or Vespuccia) if the Italian explorer had consciously given his name to it… source: The Book of General Ignorance / Stephen Fry (highly recommended!
According to this info provided by Robert R Roberts to the St Pete’s New World Celts chapter, not the Italian merchant and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, but Richard Ameryk, a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant. Ameryk was the chief investor in the 2nd transatlantic voyage of John Cabot – the English name of the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto whose voyages in 1497 and 1498 laid the groundwork for for the later British claim to Canada. He moved to London from Genoa in 1484 and was authorized by King Henry VII to search for unknown lands to the West. On his little ship Matthew, Cabot reached Labrador in May 1497 and became the 1st recorded European to set foot on North American soil, pre-dating Vespucci by 2 years. Cabot mapped the N. American coastline from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. As the chief patron of the voyage, Richard Ameryk would have expected discoveries to be named after him. There is a record in the Bristol calendar for that year “…on St John the Baptist’s Day [24
Amerigo Vespucci, an explorer who sailed along the coast of South America while seeking a route to the Orient in 1501. The name was later applied to both North and South continents. Or that’s what I always thought. It says in this here Oxford Encyclopedic dictionary that it MIGHT have been from a Bristol merchant Richard Ameryk (or Amerik) who is said to have invested in Cabot’s second voyage.
[A bit of curiosa from; “The Book of General Ignorance”] Not the Italian merchant and cartographer Americo Vespucci, but Richard Ameryk, a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant. Ameryk was the chief investor in the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot – the English name of the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto whose voyages in 1497 and 1498 laid the groundwork for the later British claims to Canada. He moved to London from Genoa in 1484 and was authorised by King Henry VII to search for unknown lands to the West. On his little ship Matthew, Cabot reacher the Labrador in May 1497 and became the first recorded European to set foot on American soil, pre-dating Vespucci by two years. Cabot mapped the North American coastline from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. As the chief patron of the voyage, Richard Ameryk would have expected discoveries to be named after him. There is a record in the Bristol calendar for that year; “… on St John the Baptist’s day (24 June), the land of American wa
