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Americas
*** Shopping-Tip: Americas
Image:LocationAmericas.png thumb|250px|World map showing the AmericasThe '''Americas''' commonly refers to the
landmass in the
Western Hemisphere, consisting of the
continents of
North America and
South America with their associated
islands and
regions.
The term is a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the term ''
America (disambiguation) America'', which may refer to either the entire landmass or the
United States United States of America. The former, and original, usage to describe what is sometimes considered a single continent or
supercontinent is increasingly deprecated for clarity, for which ''the Americas'' is used to collectively refer to the landmass and various regions of it. When used to describe a single landmass, analogous terms to ''America'' or ''(the) Americas'' are ''
Eurasia'', which consists of
Europe and
Asia collectively, and ''
Eurafrasia'', which is Eurasia and
Africa.
Naming of America
Image:MapaAméricaJonghe.JPG 250px|thumb|right|Map of America by Jonghe, c. 1770.
The earliest known use of the name ''America'' for the continents of the Americas dates from
1507. It appears on a globe and a large map created by the
Holy Roman Empire German cartographer
Martin Waldseemüller in
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. An accompanying book, ''
Cosmographiae Introductio'', explains that the name was derived from the
Latinized version of the explorer
Amerigo Vespucci's name, ''Americus Vespucius'', in its feminine form, ''America'', as the other continents all have Latin feminine names. However, as Dr. Basil Cottle (Author, ''Dictionary of Surnames'', 1967) points out, new countries or continents are never named after a person's first name, always after their second name. Thus, America should really have become ''Vespucci Land'' or ''Vespuccia'' if the Italian explorer really gave his name to the newly discovered continent.
Christopher Columbus, who had first brought the continents' existence to the attention of
Renaissance era voyagers, had died in
1506 (believing, to the end, that he'd discovered and conquered part of India) and could not protest Waldseemüller's decision.
A few alternative theories regarding the continents' naming have been proposed, but none of them have any widespread acceptance. One alternative first proposed by a
Bristol antiquary and
natural history naturalist, Alfred Hudd, was that ''America'' is derived from
Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, who is believed to have financed
John Cabot's voyage of discovery from
England to
Newfoundland in
1497. Supposedly, Bristol fishermen had been visiting the coast of North America for at least a century before Columbus' voyage and Waldseemüller's maps are alleged to incorporate information from the early English journeys to North America. The theory holds that a variant of Amerike's name appeared on an early English map (of which however no copies survive) and that this was the true inspiration for Waldseemüller.
Another theory, first advanced by
Jules Marcou in
1875 and later recounted by novelist
Jan Carew, is that the name ''America'' derives from the district of ''Amerrique'' in
Nicaragua. The gold-rich district of Amerrique was purportedly visited by both Vespucci and Columbus, for whom the name became synonymous with gold. According to Marcou, Vespucci later applied the name to the New World, and even changed the spelling of his own name from ''Alberigo'' to ''Amerigo'' to reflect the importance of the discovery.
Vespucci's role in the naming issue, like his exploratory activity, is unclear and most probably a tale. Some sources say that he was unaware of the widespread use of his name to refer to the new landmass. Others hold that he promulgated a story that he had made a secret voyage westward and sighted land in
1491, a year before Columbus. If he did indeed make such claims, they backfired, and only served to prolong the ongoing debate on whether the "
West Indies Indies" were really a new land, or just an extension of
Asia.
Usage
image:Americas.jpg thumb|250px|CIA map of the Americas
:''Main article:
Use of the word American''
America vs. Americas
Though ''
America'' in the
grammatical number singular is often used as a shorthand name for the
United States United States of America, the
plural ''America'''s''''' – with an '
s' – is not and is used to collectively describe lands in the Western Hemisphere. Conversely, usage of ''America'' when referring to the lands collectively remains fairly common outside of it.
English language English dictionaries and compendiums differ regarding usage and rendition. The ''
Oxford English Dictionary'', ''
Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'',[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/America] and the ''
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=America] list applicable definitions – for the country and lands in the Western Hemisphere – under ''America''; however, the order in each differs. The entry for ''America'' in ''
Encyclopædia Britannica'', however, refers to its entry for the ''Americas'' where the landmass and regions are detailed.
American
Whether usage of ''America'' or ''the Americas'' is preferred, many people living in the Americas refer to themselves as ''American''. However, most of the English-speaking world (including
Canada), use the word to refer solely to a
citizen or
Demographics of the United States resident of the
United States United States of America. This may be due, at least in part, to the fact that the phrase "United States" does not easily translate into an adjective or descriptive noun in English. While
Spanish language Spanish-speaking peoples in
Latin America use the word ''estadounidense'' (literally, "United-States-ian" or "of the United States"), calling someone a "United States-man" or "United States'er" or other such constructions sounds awkward in English. This has led to the use of the word "American". Nevertheless, calling a U.S. citizen simply ''americano'' or ''americana'' in Spanish is considered offensive in some areas of Latin America. Some Latin Americans, however, will use "''americano''" or "''americana''" to refer to people from the United States in colloquial speech while still considering themselves "American", just as
German people Germans or
Spanish people Spaniards would consider themselves "
European".
Demography
Ethnology
The population of the Americas is made up of the descendents of three large
ethnic groups and their combinations: the native inhabitants of the Americas, being "
Amerindians Indians" (or "Native Americans" or "Amerindians"),
Eskimos, and
Aleuts;
Europeans (of mainly
Spain Spanish,
Great Britain British,
Ireland Irish,
Portugal Portuguese,
France French,
Italy Italian,
Germany German and
Netherlands Dutch, origin); and
black (people) black Africans. There are also more recent immigrants, such as from the
Central Europe, the Middle East, and Central and Eastern
Asia.
The majority of the people live in
Latin America. Most of Latin America is
Spanish language Spanish-speaking, with
Portuguese language Portuguese-speaking
Brazil as the major exception along with the
English language English-speaking
Belize.
Canada and the
United States are linguistically, culturally and economically quite different from Latin America.
Languages
Various
languages are spoken in the Americas. Some are of the European origin, others are spoken by indigenous peoples or are the mixture of various idioms like the different creoles.
*
Spanish language Spanish - spoken by approximately 350 million in many nations, regions, islands, and communities throughout the two continents.
*
English language English - spoken by approximately 320 million people in the
United States,
Canada,
The Bahamas,
Belize,
Bermuda,
Guyana and many islands of the
Caribbean.
*
Portuguese language Portuguese - spoken by approximately 185 million in
Brazil
*
French language French - spoken by approximately 9 million in
Canada; in the
Caribbean (
Haiti,
Guadeloupe,
Martinique); in
French Guiana; and in
Acadiana (a francophone area in southern
Louisiana, United States).
*
Antillean Creole - spoken by approximately 1.2 million in the
Eastern Caribbean (
Guadeloupe,
Martinique,
Dominica,
Saint Lucia) and
French Guiana.
*
Haitian Creole language Haitian Creole - creole language, based in French and various African languages, spoken by 7.8 million in
Haiti.
*
Guaranà language Guaranà (avañe'ẽ) - native language spoken by approximately 6 million people in
Paraguay, and regions of
Argentina,
Bolivia and
Brazil.
*
Nahuatl language Nahuatl - native language of central
Mexico with 1.5 million speakers.
*
Mapudungun language Mapudungun (or Mapuche) - native language spoken by approximately 440,000 people in
Chile and
Argentina.
*
Cree language Cree - Cree is the name for a group of closely-related Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 50,000 speakers across
Canada
*
Inuit languages Inuit - native language traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador.
*
Aymara language Aymará - native language spoken in the
Andes, especially in
Bolivia.
*
Dutch language Dutch - spoken in the
Netherlands Antilles,
Aruba, and
Suriname
*
Quiché language Quiché and other
Maya languages - native languages spoken in
Guatemala and southern
Mexico.
*
Quechua language Quechua - native language spoken in southern
Colombia,
Ecuador,
Peru,
Bolivia, northern
Chile, and northwest
Argentina.
Most of the non-native languages have, to different degrees, evolved differently from the mother country, but are usually still mutually intelligible. Some have combined though, which has even resulted in completely new languages, such as
Papiamentu, which is a combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch (representing the respective colonisers), native
Arawak, various
African languages and, more recently, English.
Because of immigration, there are many communities where other languages are spoken from all parts of the world, especially in the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Canada, four very important destinations for immigrants.
See also
*
Americas (terminology)
*
Use of the word American
*
American (disambiguation) American: the many uses of the word American
*
João Pessoa, known as ''the city where the sun comes first'', is the easternmost point of the Americas, at 34º 47' 38" west longitude and 7º 9' 28" south latitude.
External links
-
The Naming of America
-
America noviter delineata / M. Merian, fecit. 1633 Map of North and South America, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
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*** Shopping-Tip: Americas
