01355383 Varieties of English and Cultures of English Native Speakers 08 | страница 5

We are starting with some facts.
America, America
Why is America called America?
Although the ships of Christopher
Columbus, sponsored by Spain,
landed on the new continent in
1492, he mistook it for Asia. And
then, Amerigo Vespucci travelled
there in 1499 and came back to
write about the place he referred to
as the New World (‘Novus Mondus’
in Latin). As his travelogues became
widely known in Europe, the
cartographers (map-makers) used
the feminine form of his last name as
the name for the New World.
http://www.dictionary.com/e/usa-names/