Every American school child learns that America was named after Amerigo Vespucci of Florence, Italy. In 1499, Vespucci sailed with Alonso de Hojeda as an astronomer and navigator to a previously-unknown land that is now called Brazil. On that trip, Vespucci derived a valid astronomical method in determining longitude, replacing the previous method that relied upon dead reckoning. Millions of people have been taught that Amerigo Vespucci also gave his name to the new lands although nobody seem to be able to refer to any documents as proof of this act. Now a British writer has claimed that America was named not after the Florentine navigator. Instead, he claims that the newly-discovered lands were named after an anglicised Welshman named Richard Amerike. Although the Vikings and possibly others had visited the Western Hemisphere for centuries, Europeans were generally unaware of these lands until Giovanni Caboto landed there in 1497. (The Italian Giovanni Caboto later changed his name to John Cabot, apparently to more easily obtain funding from his English sponsors.) Cabot sailed from Bristol, England, which was his home for 15 years. His voyage was sponsored by a group of the city's businessmen, who wanted to make more money through the discovery of the fabled route to the spices and silks of the...

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