How America Got Its Name (not who you think!)

There isn't a Man in the Moon, pigeons won't stand still if you put a pinch of salt on their tails and Christopher Columbus didn't discover America. How many childhood certainties have proved false over the years?.

Now Peter Macdonald, writing for the BBC, has claimed that America was named not after a Florentine navigator called Amerigo Vespucci but after an Anglicised Welshman called Richard Amerike.

Although North America was visited by Leif Ericsson, or "Leif the Lucky", nearly 1 000 years before the birth of Christ, Europeans were generally unaware of its existence until the Genoese Giovanni Caboto, who later became John Cabot, landed there in 1497.

Cabot sailed from Bristol, which was his home for 15 years, and his voyage was sponsored by a group of the city's businessmen, who wanted to make more money by discovering the fabled route to the spices and silks of the Orient by sailing westwards.

Prominent among the Bristol businessmen was Richard Amerike. He contributed the most money towards financing the voyage of discovery and oak trees from his estate were used to construct his ship, the 21-metre-long Matthew. He also arranged that Cabot's family should live in a house belonging to one of his friends until Cabot returned. But, as the main sponsor of the voyage of discovery, he wanted something more. He asked Cabot that any new-found lands should be named after him.

Amerike was Welsh and descended from the Earls of Gwent. Before settling in England his name was Richard Ap Meryk (Richard son of Meryk). He was born in 1445 at Meryk Court, Weston-under-Penyard, near Ross-on-Wye.

'The U.S. flag also supports the claim that America is named after Richard Amerike.'

It is probable that Cabot's ship, the Matthew, was named after his wife Mattea, for this is the female form of Matthew. However, it could also have been named in honour of the apostle Matthew, who was a customs officer just like Cabot's patron Amerike. Amerike was not only Sheriff of Bristol but also King's Customs Officer for the port. This post was held usually for only one year but it is a measure of Amerike's importance and influence that, at the time Cabot's voyage began, he held the office for the third time.

Amerike was probably instrumental in obtaining letters patent from Henry VII granting Cabot and his sons "full and free authority, leave and power upon theyr own proper costs and charges, to seek out, discover and finde whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians".

Cabot's first voyage to the New World took him to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Convinced he had found Asia, he returned to England to report his discovery to Henry VII. He received a present of £10 for his trouble and the promise of a fleet of 10 ships with which to sail to Japan.

In the event, the explorer was helped by the king to equip only two ships and granted a pension of £20. In May 1498 Cabot set sail and travelled westwards once again. After exploring the east coast of Greenland, he crossed the Davis Strait and reached Baffin Land. Once again he thought that he had reached Asia but was perplexed when he met American Indians and found a complete absence of all the things like silks, spices and perfumes that he expected to find. Following the coast southwards he landed on the shores of Quebec. But again all the inhabitants had to offer were fish, furs and timber. He reached as far south as Chesapeake Bay before returning to England.

Another interesting piece of evidence to support the claim that America is named after Richard Amerike is the flag of the United States of America, probably the most recognisable flag in the world today. The Stars and Stripes are generally associated with George Washington's family coat of arms - his ancestors came from Washington, County Durham, England in the 17th century. However, the British Library archives confirm that the coat of arms of the Ap Merike family are about 300 years older than the arms of the first U.S. president's family and they too feature stars and stripes prominently in their design.

Amerike's coat of arms can be seen at the Lord Mayor's Chapel on College Green in Bristol as part of the Poyntz crest, a relative having married into that family. It is said that both Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales, could trace their ancestry back to the Poyntz Tudor lineage.

Descending from the Earls of Gwent, Richard Ap Meryk - in Welsh, Richard, son of Meryk - was born in 1445 at the family home, Meryk Court, Weston-under-Penyard, near Ross-on-Wye. (Elizabeth, grand daughter of one of his ancestors, Hywel Ap Meurig, married Sir John Poyntz in 1343. Queen Elizabeth II is descended from their Tudor lineage, as was Diana, Princess of Wales, via the Spencer family connections.)

Richard Amerike married a woman by the name of Lucy Wells, living for a time at West Camel, near Ilchester, where the local assize courts were held. When Bristol grew in importance and the assizes moved there, so did Amerike, joining relatives already established in the city. When he arrived it was the second biggest port in England after London. Trade was controlled by a few energetic men and to succeed he had to make the right contacts: he did, and in time became an important and wealthy man. By 1497 he was Sheriff of Bristol and also, for the third time, King's Customs Officer for the port - an office usually held for only one year though Amerike had already been the Customs Officer twice before, in 1486 and 1490.

When Cabot's voyage of discovery was proposed, Amerike donated more money than anyone else to funding the construction of the ship. Also, as no wood was readily available nearby, oaks from Amerike's family estate were cut down and floated down the Wye from Ross to Chepstow, over the Severn and then up the Avon to the Bristol dockyard.

It was probably in honour of Cabot's wife Mattea that the ship was named Matthew, but it could also have been named after Amerike himself, Matthew, one of the apostles, having been a custom's officer. But it is also probable that, as the chief sponsor of the Matthew's voyage, and with Cabot's wife and children then living, at his instigation, in a house belonging to a close friend, Amerike sought reward for his patronage by asking that any new-found lands should be named after him.

Although North America was visited by Leif Ericsson, or "Leif the Lucky", nearly 1 000 years before the birth of Christ,

Does anyone proofread these things?

The name America was applied first to South America on a map published by Martin Waldseemueller...he had read Amerigo Vespucci's account of his voyages and thought Amerigo was the first European to set foot on the southern continent. This article provides no evidence that Waldseemueller had ever heard of this Welshman or that anyone in England started calling the land Cabot visited America before Waldseemueller suggested the name.

Leif Ericsson was NOT the first European to see America.

Sometime before Leif settled somewhere in "Vinland", North America, AFTER 1000 A.D., a Norse Trading Ship, captained by one Bjarni Herjolfsson, got lost in a fog while traveling from Iceland to Greenland. He drifted out of course, and, when the fog cleared, he saw land to the west of his ship, which was unknown land. Sailing north along the coast and then due east he returned to Greenland.

That was America, and when Bjanri returned to Greenland, Leif heard about this new land from him and decided to try a settlement there.

Apparently long after Leif's settlement was abandoned by the Norse, they continued to travel to North America to obtain lumber which was in poor supply in Greenland.

Most of this is in the Vinlanda Saga.

Although North America was visited by Leif Ericsson, or "Leif the Lucky", nearly 1 000 years before the birth of Christ,

Considering that he also visited it nearly 1000 years AFTER the birth of Christ, this must mean that he lived at least 2,000 years. "Lief the Lucky" indeed!

;-)

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America is the feminine form of the name Americus (Latin form of Amerigo)...the other continents had feminine names (Asia, Africa, Europa). The name Amerigo is said to be the same as the Hungarian Imre, as in Imre Nagy (hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956) and Imre Kertesz (winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature). If the continent had been named Vespucia then the claim for Richard Amerike couldn't have been made...but America sounds better.

Of course, if Amerike was the source name, we would all be leftists and spell it Amerika. (If we had lost the Revolutionary War, we'd all be speaking English too.)

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