AMERICA NOT NAMED AFTER AMERIGO VESPUCCI
AMERICA NOT NAMED AFTER AMERIGO VESPUCCI
SEATTLE (Wireless Flash) Americans have been duped: It turns out the country wasnt named after explorer Amerigo Vespucci after all. Thats according to Seattle-based author Rodney Broome, who claims America is really named after a Welsh merchant fisherman named Richard Amerike. Broome says Amerike made an expedition to what is now the United States around 1479 and Britons began referring to the area as Amerike when he returned. Amerike became America when explorer John Cabot misspelled the name on his maps during an expedition to the region. Broome says America became associated with Amerigo Vespucci when he too wrote the name in his maps and books which were published widely. Broome is the author of Terra Incognita: The True Story of How America Got Its Name (Educare).
Fri 06-15-01