America and American

[carljweber]

I recall reading years ago in a seemingly reputable enough source that the
name "Americans" was what the "North American" French (who had lost their
control of vast holdings to the English in 1763) called the Yankees after
the Revolution.

The first use of "America" was by cosmographer (cartographer) Martin
Waldsemuller a few years after 1492. (One of his surviving maps sold for a
fortune last year). He soon realized that, by rights, the name should more
accurately have been Columbiana. He stopped thereafter using "America" on
his maps, but it was too late -- Vespucci's name stuck. It comes up in
discussion today that Columbus did not know that he discovered a new
continent (which is why, at that time, Amerigo got credit). This is in some
circles debated. Some argue he was fully aware he had found a new world, but
he kept it a secret and swore his men to nondisclosure. The reason, if he
had not indeed discovered the short cut to Asia, which had obsessed Europe
since the return of Marco Polo about 1300, Columbus' royal funding would
have been cut off, his mission declared a failure.

The first use of the name, United States of America, on a map, was (in
French) on a French map soon after the revolution.

Carl Jeffrey Weber
Chicago



----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: America and American


> At 6:19 AM -0800 2/19/02, James Smith wrote:
> >Just my limited experience, but I knew several
> >Canadians in the 60's who, when they heard USians
> >refer to themselves as Americans, made it clear that
> >Canadians were Americans also.
> >
> >
> Confirming anecdote:
>
> I remember being asked my nationality once at the Canadian border
> (probably late 60's) and being firmly corrected when I said
> "American".  The customs agent firmly explained that I was from the
> United States, and that Canadians are Americans too.  When Canadians
> say they're not Americans they mean "I'm not [what you mean by]
> American", which is different.
>
> larry
>