Beech Tree News Network

The Naming of America...

We typically use the word America as an alternate name for the United States. However, this word was used to name our country long before the United States was founded in 1776. So where did the name America come from? 

America was named in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian sailor who made four voyages to America between 1497 and 1504. He is credited with being the first to realize that Christopher Columbus had found a new continent. Vespucci, in one of his letters, says this about Columbus’ discovery, “These regions we may rightly call Mundus Novus, a New World, because our ancestors had no knowledge of them…” In 1507, a German mapmaker enclosed this letter with a popular geography book and suggested that the new land be named America in Vespucci’s honor. Ever since that time, people have called the two western continents America.
   
   
Aaron Jacobs lives in Butler County and is a homeschooler in his junior year of high school. He plays the mandolin and enjoys bluegrass music. Aaron also enjoys reading and studying American history.