America is the name of a whole continent. United States of America means that the United States belongs to America and NOT that America belongs to the United States. So, next time you want to refer to The United States of America, you can do it as U.S. or the States or whatever you want but not as only America. Gotcha?
Here we will show you some wrong and correct uses of the term America:
Please, note that this page in not about demonyms (gentilics) but about the way to call a country.
These terms and conditions contain rules about posting comments. By submitting a comment, you are declaring that you agree with these rules:
Failure to comply with these rules may result in being banned from submitting further comments.
These terms and conditions are subject to change at any time and without notice.
Let the world know that USA should not be called America! America is one whole continent.
Comments (1254)
As someone who is South American born, yes please. The United Statians have stolen everything, even our identity as Americans.
https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/b3wxcj/why_i_think_we_should_call_the_us_the_united/
More and more spam over here... eau de toilette
jejej ese tipo parece que no tiene trabajo, novia, familia, ni nada qué hacer =D
Now he votes in batches!
“The name for the northern land mass, Parias, is derived from a passage in the Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci....”
“Parias was described by Waldseemüller's follower, Johannes Schöner as: "The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America] but a large, special part of the fourth part of the world", indicating uncertainty as to its situation.”
“PARIAS and AMERICA, corresponding to North and South America, are separated by a strait in the region of the present Panama on the main map but on the miniature map inset into the upper-mid part of the main map the isthmus joining the two is unbroken, apparently demonstrating Waldseemüller's willingness to represent alternative solutions to a question yet unanswered.”
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Waldseemüller_map
“North America is called ‘Parias’ – ‘America’ is used to label the South American coast all the way down to the present-day port of Cananéia, Brazil.”
https://bit.ly/34eXmPN
“Parias was described by Waldseemüller's follower, Johannes Schöner as: "The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America] but a large, special part of the fourth part of the world", indicating uncertainty as to its situation.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldseemüller_map
“Waldseemüller’s America actually identified what is today South America. “Parias” is the name Waldseemüller identified with what is today North America.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/apr25/america-beautiful/
“The Caribbean Islands, including ‘Isabella’ (Cuba) and ‘Spagnolla’ (Hispaniola), are shown off the eastern coast, in a sea labelled for the first time as ‘Oceanus Occidentalis’, or Western Sea. The continent supports Spanish claims to the region by flying the flag of Castile, but is not given the name of America. Instead, in its southern regions, it is named ‘Parias’ in capital letters. So the great birth certificate of America actually calls North America ‘Parias’, a word taken from Vespucci’s account of his meeting with the local inhabitants who used it to designate their homeland.
The map reserves the name ‘America’ to describe the southern land mass, and is placed in the location of modern-day Brazil.”
From: A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton; p. 174
Buy it today. Printed in the United States in America and released in 2014.
But before I proceed in bringing other information, I like to say that your idea that the name America changed its meaning after annexing north of the landmass/new world is a stretch. The meaning of America does not change just because the north was still being explored. I believe the name was to encompass the entire new world and not just the southern part of it. For one, the middle part, Central America was discovered before the south so it is implied that discoverers had more info on that part first. Thus, the name America was meant to mean all of those new world lands being discovered not just the south.
Then how do you explain the existence of the name ‘Parias’? You love Waldseemüller’s use of ‘America’, but you don’t like his use of ‘Parias’ because it destroys your false narrative, so you falsely claim that Waldseemüller named all of the Americas ‘America’ in 1507, even though he clearly and obviously only named South America as ‘America’. What about Parias? If he named all of the Americas as ‘America’, why is only South America labeled as such?, and why is North America labeled as ‘Parias’? You have never directly answered this question because it clearly exposes your falsehoods. Nice try.
Please don't assume for me. It would be interesting to find out why they wrote Parias there. But if you are a curious person, like I am, you will notice on the 1507 map that Asia is not written all over the continent but in a small place of the map that could be what it was Kasajistan. Same with Africa, it wasn't written all over the continent, but in small piece of it where Nigeria seems to be now. So, the idea that America was only written on what it seems what is now Brazil, is debatable.
What is Parias then? What about the Schöner quote?
“So, the idea that America was only written on what it seems what is now Brazil, is debatable.”
How exactly is it debatable? Where is ‘America’ written anywhere else other than over present-day Brazil? It is clearly not written over present-day North America, so there is nothing to debate about that. Please stop lying and fantasizing.
Listen I had a loss in the family so I couldn't reply. David, stop being so impulsive. I am just building my case and why I believe as I believe regarding the issue of America. These information which I wrote a few days ago are from before the country was even born. It is just the beginning of what I am trying to say. So that is why I stated that we got that America was one continent. We both seem to agree on that. But before the continent was mapped in the 1507 map, the lands being discovered were thought to be all part of a "New World" when they finally realized that it was not Asia(China, India Etc). This new world, was still under discoveries from European navigators from various countries such as Spain, Portugal, and others. This is where Amerigo Vespucci enters into the scene. I am reading a book about him which has him as the one who discovered that the lands were not part of Asia but a new world a new continent. Meanwhile Columbus thought he had found Asia.
Mrs. Anonymous says...
People have been conditioned to call the United States "America" for years and years not realizing that the name belongs to the continent in which the country resides. America is still a continent, even though the English speaking countries, like the U.K. and the U.S. teach a two continent version in today's schools, the original version, which other countries still teach, is still one continent called America.
3 months ago
David says...
Wrong again...and again...and again, payasa. The original version is America and Parias. 1507! Why do you keep pretending that America has always referred to all of the Americas? It’s because you falsely claim that proper nouns can never acquire additional meanings, so you have to lie to yourself and everyone else that the meaning of America didn’t change from South America to all of the Americas. But then you say that the name did change in order to encompass all of the Americas, but only that specific change in the meaning of a proper noun is acceptable, but the change in meaning to the USA is somehow unacceptable. You are dishonest, delusional, and completely full of BS.
3 months ago
“Are you kidding? When did you do this?”