User blog comment:Scrawland Scribblescratch/Naples/@comment-4656717-20120703073015/@comment-4612798-20120703121109

Yeah the mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller was told Amerigo Vespucci discovered it so he Latinised and feminised Amerigo into America on his 1507 world map. But he only really meant it to be applied to South America. 'America' caught on pretty quickly (apart from in Spain which recognised Columbus as the discoverer so called it Colombia). But its a great big mistake basically.