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Today we take for granted that the world is round. In the fifteenth
century, however, most people believed the world was flat. They thought that
monsters or a trip over the edge of the earth waited for anybody who sailed
outside the limits of known territory. People laughed at or jailed others who
dared think that the world was in the shape of a globe.
There were
educated persons, however, who reasoned that the world must be round. An Italian
named Christopher Columbus was bold enough to push this notion, and ask for
money to explore the seas, and find what he thought would be the other
hemisphere of the earth. Portugal, Italy and England refused to support such a
venture.
At that time, spice merchants were looking for an easier route
to Asia. They traveled south past Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and
continued eastward. Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that
it would be easier to sail directly west and find the rich treasures of India
and Asia. A new route would be found, he said, and possible new lands for Spain.
Columbus first asked Queen Isabella for help in 1486, but it was years
before she agreed... provided that he conquer some of the islands and mainland
for Spain. Columbus would also be given the title of "Admiral of All the Ocean
Seas," and receive one-tenth of the riches that came from any of his
discoveries.
Finally, on August 3, 1492, he and ninety men set sail on
the flagship Santa Maria. Two other ships, the Nina and the Pinta, came with
him. They sailed west. Two long months went by. His men became tired and sick,
and threatened to turn the ships back. Columbus encouraged them, certain that
they would find the spice trail to the East. On October 11th, ten o'clock at
night, Columbus saw a light. The Pinta kept sailing, and reported that the light
was, in fact, land. The next morning at dawn they landed.
Christopher
Columbus and his crew had expected to see people native to India, or be taken to
see the great leader Khan. They called the first people they saw "Indians." They
had gone ashore in their best clothes, knelt and praised God for arriving
safely. From the "Indians" they learned that the island was called Guanahani.
Columbus christened it San Salvador and claimed it immediately for Spain. When
they landed on the island that is now Cuba, they thought they were in Japan.
After three subsequent voyages, Columbus was still unenlightened. He died a rich
and famous man, but he never knew that he discovered lands that few people had
imagined were there.
" First Landing of Columbus on the
Shores of the New World" , after the painting by Discoro Teofilo de la Paubla
Few celebrations marked the
discovery until hundreds of years later. The continent was not even named after
Columbus, but an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, a
ceremony was held in New York honoring Columbus, and a monument was dedicated to
him. Soon after that, the city of Washington was officially named the District
of Columbia and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue of
Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York City. At the
Columbian Exposition held in Chicago that year, replicas of Columbus's three
ships were displayed.
Americans might not have a Columbus Day if
Christopher Columbus had not been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native
son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of
the discovery of America on October 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian
Organizations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that date. In
1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated October 12, they called it
Columbus Day.
In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a
Columbus Day. Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then-
President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since
1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Although
it is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus was the first European to
have discovered the New World of the Americas, there is still some controversy
over this claim. Some researchers and proponents of other explorers attribute
the first sightings to the early Scandinavian Vikings or the voyages of Irish
missionaries which predate the Columbus visit in 1492. The controversy may never
be fully resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but 1992 marked the 500th
anniversary of the Columbus discovery.
I was never taught in my
history classes just how the word America came about. Oh of course Ive heard of
the pilgrims coming to America and the writings of our constitution. Also how we
came to call our nation The United States however when the pilgrims set out from
England to this land they referred to it as America. I just couldnt conceive how
they arrived at the name America. Well thanks to modern technology with regards
to the computer and an internet connection my question was answered very easily
by simply typing into my web browser How America got
its name
It is an irony of history
that the name "America" did not come from Christopher Columbus. That distinction
belongs to a German writer of geography. In a further twist of events, America
was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a 15th century Florentine merchant who owned a
business in Seville, Spain, furnishing supplies for ships, preparing them for
mercantile expeditions.
Amerigo Vespucci
How do we explain what
seems to mock the reality of history? Stirred by the achievements of Columbus
and envious of the reputation his discoveries brought, Vespucci endeavored to
cultivate Columbus' friendship and trust. Seven years after Columbus' first
voyage and while Columbus was still alive, Vespucci accompanied an expedition
that consisted of four ships. They sailed past the eastern coast of South
America, and visited Trinidad, which Columbus had named the preceding year. On
his return to Europe Vespucci wrote letters with glowing descriptions of the
newly discovered countries. He called the lands he had visited a "New World."
Some years later Vespucci's letters were
published and read by Martin Waldseemuller, a noted geographer, and Mathias
Ringmann, a schoolmaster. Recently-arrived from Germany to the province of
Lorraine, they were attracted to the town of Saint-Die because of a
newly-established print shop. Both men were engaged in working on a reproduction
of Ptolemy's treatise on geography, to which they were adding a preface.
After reading the account of Vespucci's travels in "Quatre Navigations
d' Americ Vespuce," they decided to incorporate Vespucci's voyage into the
treatise. Ringmann, acting as editor, wrote in his introduction: "There is a
fourth quarter of the world which Amerigo Vespucci has discovered and which for
this reason we can call 'America' or the land of Americo."
Apparently ignorant of the discoveries and achievements made by Columbus
fifteen years earlier, Ringmann continued: "We do not see why the name of the
man of genius, Amerigo, who has discovered them, should not be given to these
lands, as Europe and Asia have adopted the names of women."
Their
work was published on April 25, 1507 under the title "Cosmographiae
Introductio." It marked the first time the word AMERICA appeared in print.
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