Danielle Anne Wiseman, age 10, of Milford, Conn., for her question:
HOW DID AMERICA GET ITS NAME?
America is the greatest single land mass on earth. It stretches about 9,500 miles, going all the way from 72 degrees north to 56 degrees south, covering 128 degrees of latitude along the way. North America and South America are the two major areas, although the narrow part of North America's southern part is often called Central America.
Widest part of the great North American land mass is about 3,000 miles wide and it is that stretch of land between Labrador and British Columbia. Widest part of South America is across Brazil and Peru, and it is about 3,300 miles wide.
Narrowest part of the American land mass is at the Isthmus of Panama where both continents are joined.
America received its name from Amerigo Vaspucci, an explorer who was one of the first Europeans to find the present day coasts of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina between 1497 and 1503. In 1507, a map maker suggested that the entire area we now know as South America be named after Amerigo Vespucci and called, simply, America. The idea was accepted and the name was then used by all of the map makers of the day.
A number of years later, the name was also applied to the northern continent and we had North America.
Today, the word America is also often used to mean the United States of America.
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer merchant who lived from 1454 until 1512. He made his first landing in 1497 on what was called the New World, or the new continent, five years after Columbus' first voyage. Columbus did not dispute Vespucci's claim because he felt that he had reached islands that were part of the Indies.
In 1495 Amerigo Vespucci joined a company which fitted out ships for long voyages. He made trips in 1497, 1499, 1501 and 1503 with the first two for Spain and the last two for Portugal. He did not actually take a leading part in these explorations but rather was only a pilot, or astronomer, as pilots were then called.
In 1505 Vespucci became a Spanish citizen and from 1508 until he died, he was chief pilot of Spain.
Amerigo Vespucci wrote many letters that were published. When it was decided to name the new continent after him, map makers believed that Amerigo had discovered it. Even though scholars established the fact that he did not actually discover the new land, his name remained as the accepted one for South America and gradually came into use for North America too.