Often in my posts I refer to myself as a USAmerican, rather than just an American. Here’s why. I consider America to be the New World  which Christopher Columbus unwittingly encountered, and which Amerigo Vespucci attempted to explore and chart. In fact it was another map-maker (cartographer Martin Waldseemüller) who ascribed the term America to what we would call Brazil, the area of Vespucci’s exploration.

What we call North America, Central America and the western part of South America had not yet been explored by Europeans. In time other cartographers extended the term America to the other parts of the Continent. So, out of respect for this history and consideration for my South and Central American friends, I do not invoke the term “American” exclusively for one part of one continent.

Although Mexicans often refer to us as North Americans (norteamericanos) or just Americans (americanos), they do so knowing that they are actually both. Interestingly, another term has appeared —  estadounidenses or “United States People”.  Thus, my English term USAmericans.

However, the situation is even more complicated. A Mexican friend once told me, “Larry, this country needs a name. “United States of America” is not really a name, it is an ambiguous description.” Then he explained that the name of Mexico is actually “The United Mexican States. ” Suddenly I saw his point. To him and all south of our border, America is a single continent including Canada and Argentina — the continent of America. 

The “United States of Mexico” (so to speak) is far more precise than the “American United States“, which is what he hears when we say United States of America. So unless outgoing Mexican President Calderón gets his wish and changes his country’s name to simply Mexico, North America will continue to have two collections of United States.

“Lady Columbia” The original personification of the USA

The name Columbia would have been a good choice for us. Our capital city actually is,  the District of Columbia. For years we poetically referred to our land as Columbia, as seen in the unofficial national anthems — Columbia,the Gem of the Ocean and Hail, Columbia — each a historical reference to Christopher Columbus.

We did not have an official anthem until The Star Spangled Banner was officially adopted in 1931, and even now Hail, Columbia is the official anthem for the Vice-President.

Of course, Colombia ( from Cristoforo Colombo — the Italian spelling of the explorer’s name) became the name of the South American Republic of Colombia in 1886. 

Ironically the country previously had been called the United States of Colombia  — another American “United States”.

So my friend was right. With a shared history we are not the only United States, and not the only country in the American continent.

When my Latin American friends become United States citizens  they are often congratulated for becoming an American.  At this I cringe, but my friends are thrilled to be a citizen of this great land, even if poorly named.