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  What do we mean by the term “Americas?” What geographic regions are included?The term “the Americas” is a relatively new descriptor. The Americas refers to the New World in the Western hemisphere, and includes North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean and their associated islands. The name “America,” which is most often used casually to refer only to the United States of America, was originally given to the entire Western Hemisphere by European writers and mapmakers, supposedly in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, who acknowledged that Columbus had reached a part of the world unknown to Europeans. Earlier Spanish explorers referred to the area as the Indies, thinking, as did Columbus, that it was a part of eastern Asia. We do not know what the Indigenous peoples featured in this exhibition called the lands where they lived. Continue to How should I refer to Indigenous peoples of the Americas? >> back >> |
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