Columbus Discovered the New World… So Why Isn't America Named After Him?

Pedro_P

Waldseemüller created the first map to use the name America.
Credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress
▼ Christopher Columbus famously sailed the ocean blue in 1492, so why isn't the New World named after him?
The answer has to do with Columbus' reputation at the time Europeans named the newfound continents, as well as a highly successful publicity campaign led by the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, said Matt Crawford, an associate professor of history at Kent State University in Ohio.undefined
In addition, Columbusmaintained until his dying day that the new land he had discovered was, in fact, Asia, Crawford said. In contrast, Vespucci was one of the first, if notthefirst explorer to declare that the New World was an entirely newfound entity (at least to the Europeans).
Columbus, born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy, moved to Portugal in 1476 to start a mapmaking business. At the time, called the Age of Exploration, Portugal was a leader, having already discovered the Madeira Islands and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean and sailed down part of Africa's western coast.
However, what Europe really wanted was a route to India. The Ottoman Empire had blocked European accessthrough Constantinople, as well as across North Africa and the Red Sea. Columbus wanted a piece of the action and proposed, as others had, that Asia could be reached by sailing westward. (Back then, people knew the Earth was round. The misperception that people thought it was flat was introduced by the American essayist Washington Irving, best known for writing "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," who popularized the so-called "flat Earth" controversyin his 1828 book "The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.")
After Portugal rejected Columbus' idea — not only because he wasn't well connected but also because they (rightfully) thought that he had underestimated the distance between  Europe and India— he took his plan to Spain. It's unclear how successful the Spanish thought Columbus would be, which may explain why they agreed to give him so much if he found a route to India. "He's promised a lot in return; a fairly substantial portion of the trade and wealth that would come out of more direct contacts with Asia," Crawford said. "He's promised the grand title 'Admiral of the Ocean Sea' and 'Viceroy of the Indies.'" (▪ ▪ ▪)

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elioli

Because Cristophe Colomb discovered the Carribean islands, and from there the European started to colonise America. The vikings were there before.

vivekjanu

nice article. historical facts always amuses.