Everyone knows that Christopher Columbus discovered America on October 12, 1492, after a two-month trip on an expedition aboard his caravels: Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

Replica of Santa Maria, one of Columbus's three caravels.

Credit photo : Par Dietrich Bartel (my father) — CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97656

But, do you know where the name of this continent comes from?
Here are some explanations to better understand:

1/Why such a trip?

In the Middle Ages, trade with Asia is important. Europe loves spices, silk and other riches produced in these countries.

Here 's the map of the routes that have fueled European trade fairs with a variety of products.

(source : Wikipedia, the trade routes in the Middle Ages)

From 1453, the Ottoman Empire, which has just conquered the Byzantine Empire, controls all land routes to Asia and levies heavy taxes on all goods in transit causing excessive prices of these goods.

The Byzantine Empire in 1025.

Conquest of the Byzantine Empire in 1450

(source wikipedia, Byzantine empires and Ottomans)

Some daring sailors see a windfall and seek new trade routes to exempt themselves from these taxes.

It will not be difficult for them to be armed by the kings of Spain or Portugal who wish to avoid the taxes mentioned above, to take advantage of them to increase their international influence and to Christianize new lands in the face of the development of Muslims world.

It will not be difficult to convince some adventurers eager for riches to try this risky adventure.

Thus, a series of expeditions took place towards the end of the 15th century in India, China and Japan bypassing Africa first, for example, like Bartolemeu Diaz or Vasco de Gama, or insane for the time, crossing the Atlantic like Columbus (Reminder: it is not accepted that Earth is round in 1492).

2 / Why is the name of the continent not associated with Columbus?

Columbus made several trips to the Americas: four in all.

His first two trips led him to discover several Caribbean islands: Dominica, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Jamaica.

His last two trips have taken him to Venezuela and Central America.

(source : Wikipedia, Christopher Colombus)

Yet the American continent does not carry its name.
Only Colombia refers to the visits of this great explorer.

It is by locating with the map of Toscanelli (1468) that Christopher Columbus began his journey.

For information: the Cipango: it's Japan, the Cathay: it's China.

As you can see, there is a lack of land between Europe and Asia, right?
See on this map what Columbus imagined and reality.

(source : Vikidia, auteur Alexandrin, free)

Surprising as it may seem, Columbus never knew during his lifetime that he had discovered a new continent. He remained convinced that he had landed on Asian lands unknown to Europeans.

It's one of his contemporaries, moreover, who met, who had the intuition that the maps of the fourteenth century were fragmentary.

This Italian explorer, like Columbus, was also a merchant in the service of the Medici (the ruling family of Florence). He is the first to suppose that the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus belong to a new continent then unknown.

It's Amerigo Vespucci.

The cartographer Waaldsemüller designates this new continent "America" ​​in tribute to Amerigo Vespucci.
Of course, for posterity, the native inhabitants of these new regions will be called "Indians" as Columbus has strived to designate them.

Nowadays, it is assumed that Viking Leif Erikson, from Greenland, would be the first European to join the American continent around the year 1000 but did not stay there. Traces of Viking habitat have been discovered in recent years in Terre-Neuve.

The most critical will tell you that the discoverers of America: it is the natives who have been colonized. I am not a judge of history, historians will do it better than me: I simply place myself from the European point of view.

Hoping that this article will have taught you something, any constructive criticism is a source of progress for me.

I am francophone, I have a small level in English. I translated my article using an automatic translator. I modified a few sentences to retain their meaning.

Source et credits photos :
Pour la rédaction de cet article, j’ai utilisé plusieurs articles de Wikipedia sur
Les empires Byzantins et Ottomans, la cartographie, les grands explorateurs