The naming of the Americas , or America , occurred shortly after
Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally
accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer,
who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and
Portugal. However, some have suggested other explanations, including being
named after the Amerrisque mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard
Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, England.
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