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The
Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World
consisting of the continents of North America and South America
with their associated islands and regions. The Americas cover
8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.4% of its land area)
and contain about 14% of the human population.
The designation is a relatively recent and less ambiguous
alternative to America, which may refer to either the entire
landmass or the United States of America. The original usage to
describe what is sometimes considered a single continent or
super continent is 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.
The earliest known use of the name America for this particular
landmass dates from 1507. It appears on a globe and a large map
created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. An accompanying book, Cosmographiae
Introduction, 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.
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 "Indies" were really a new land, or just an
extension of Asia. |
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