is English this might seem like an obvious question. America is right here, the country.

However, some people would strongly disagree with this: particularly those from South America.

To South Americans, America is not a country but a continent.

This is America, right here. While English speakers would say those are 2 continents

- North America and South America (collectively 'The Americas'), Spanish and Portuguese speakers

refer to it as one continent: America. Of course it's not just South Americans who

view the continents this way. France also agrees on the six-continent view of world.

This can be seen by the 5 rings of the Olympics, which represents the 5 inhabited continents

of the world (ie - not Antarctica). Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America.

And recently I've been seen a lot of arguing over this very issue in the comments section.

For starters, how about we look at the history of the Americas and where the name 'America'

actually came from. So, as we all know, Christopher Columbus discovered

America in 1492... right? Well, no, actually. People had been living on the American continents

for more than 10,000 years before Columbus supposedly 'discovered' them.

Historians believe that earliest settlers in the Americas walked from Asia during the

last ice when Alaska and Siberia were connected by a land bridge, before splitting into separate

continents. So for thousands of years there were people

living in Europe and people were living in the Americas, but neither people knew about

the other. Europe, Africa and Asia, or if you prefer

- Afro-Eurasia, the supercontinent, was thought of as the whole world, which can be seen from

early world maps. OK, so Christopher Columbus didn't "discover"

America, but he was the first European there, right? Well, once again, no, actually. Icelandic

vikings settled on the east coast of Canada in what is today Newfoundland, nearly 500

years before the voyages of Columbus. It's ironic, the 2 things Christopher Columbus

is famous for, discovering America and being the first to suggest the Earth was round,

both have one thing key thing is common... they're not actually true.

It was suggested the Earth was round as early as the 6th century BC, by Pythagoras. And

later studied Plato and Aristotle. All educated people of Columbus' time knew the Earth was

round and not flat. The circumference of the Earth is around 40,000

kilometres, and this was known by people in Columbus' time, because it was calculated

around 240 BC, with surprising accuracy. However, Columbus was convinced that the Earth

was much smaller than this and when he set out on his first voyage, he wasn't trying

to discover new land but to find a better trade route to India because the current land

route had become more difficult due to the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

He thought he could sail west from Spain and reach India in just a few weeks, thus avoiding

the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. People didn't doubt Columbus because they

thought the Earth was flat, but because they knew the actual size of the Earth and knew

India was too far away to sail to. Had the Americas not existed, Columbus and

his team would've died long before getting anywhere near Asia as they'd have run out

of supplies. 5 weeks after setting off for India, his team

reach the Bahamas. However, instead of realising he was in previously unknown land, Columbus

thought he had arrived in Japan. He also explored Cuba which is assumed was China.

Columbus named the Caribbean islands the 'West Indies' since he thought he was near India.

The Bahamas was already occupied by indigenous people, which Columbus referred to as 'Indians'.

This is why Native Americans are also called 'American-Indians' even though they're not

actually from India, but because Columbus incorrectly referred to indigenous peoples

of the Americas as 'Indians' and the name just sort-of stuck.

While Christopher Columbus may not have discovered the Americas, nor was he the first European

there. But what he was the first to do was to bring the Americas to the attention of

Europe, which lead to the European colonization of the Americas, albeit thinking he had been

to East Asia. He died in 1506 never realising where he had actually been.

Between 1497 and 1504, Amerigo Vespucci made several voyages to the West Indies and South

America, and correctly concluded that it was not east Asia, but a previously unknown continent,

which he referred to as the New World, while Afro-Eurasia was therefore the Old World.

The New World was thought of as the 4th continent, though little was known about North America

at this point. The first ever use of the word 'America' was

in 1507 by a German cartographer who named the new continent America after Amerigo Vespucci

who was the first to recognise it as a new continent.

In his world map, he depicted South America and small parts of Central America with the

word 'America' written on South America. This is why South Americans may be offended

by the use of the word 'America' to mean the USA, since its earliest usage was used to

refer to just South America. Amerigo Vespucci died in 1512 never knowing

that an entire continent was named after him. As time went on, and more and more of the

American continent was explored, world maps began to evolve. In 1527, South America was

shaping up nicely while the east coast of North America was starting to take shape.

Although there was no use if the word America in this map.

This was the first map to use America to refer to North America as well as South America.

At first glance it's hard to see what's going on. But if you tilt your head to the left

you can see all the continents. By 1569 the world was starting to look right,

although this map also has no mention of America, and the Americas are labelled 'India Nova'

- or 'New Indies'. And in one of the many, many written Latin words, which some wonderful

human-being has translated into English, the cartographer refers to 3 distinct continents:

the Old World, which he didn't specifically name but simply referred to as the place where

"the human race was created and whence it spread, by multiplying over all the face of

the earth"; the New Indies; and the "Southern parts" - ie, Antarctica.

1 year later and this map was published. Unsure of what to call the Americas, the cartographer

simply opted writing "America or New Indies", not sure on what the general consensus was

when referring to the New World. In 1595, the name America still hadn't stuck,

but this was the first world map to have different colours for the continents. And America (or

the New Indies) are both yellow and therefore considered as one.

Fast forward to 1606 and a very significant map in American history as this was the first

map to have North America and South America, and for the first time were considered 2 separate

continents. Here we can see the words "AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALIS"

which is Latin for, well... North America. Then we can see "AMERICA MERIDIONALIS", which

means... well I'll let you figure that one out.

By 1794 we had what is possibly the first accurate world map. North America and South

America had now been clearly established as 2 separate continents as they're now shown

in different colours. So, the term America was originally used for

just South America, then both the Americas, but then was split into North and South America.

Although many countries around the world prefer the original meaning and still view America

as one continent. In Spanish, the country in question can really

only be referred to by one name: los Estatod Unidos, Spanish for "the Untied States". While

in English there are several ways to refer to the country, the most common of which is

'America'. I can understand why South Americans may be

offended by this, but I think there seems to be some misconception the US are naming

themselves after a continent, and they think no-one else matters and that's really not

the case. Or that everyone who calls the country America is ignorant and again that's simply

not true. And this probably stems from the fact that,

internationally, they're not exactly the most popular country in the world.

But allow me to explain why I think the country is referred to as 'America'.

First of all, there are 35 countries in the Americas, if you include the Caribbean, and

only 1 of which has the word 'America' in it's name: the United States of America.

Although the same can't be said for "los Estatdos Unidos". South Americans referring to the

country this way may be considered offensive to their fellow Spanish-speaking nation, Mexico.

Believe it or not, Mexico's official name is: los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Translated

as "the United Mexican States". It's not so bad in English since the words

'united' and 'states' are split up due to the different grammatical structures of the

languages. But still, even though no other country in

the world has 'united states' in their name today, several have throughout recent history,

including: the United States of Belgium, the Republic

of the United States of Brazil, the United States of Colombia, the United States of Indonesia

and the United States of Venezuela. The last 2 of which only ceased to exist around 60

years ago. So I really don't think 'the United States'

is a better way to refer to the country. On top of this, the USA was the first country

in the Americas to become an independent nation, free from their European colonial master.

The 13 colonies of British America broke away from the British Empire and declared itself

independent in 1776 which lead to the American Revolutionary War.

Therefore, the 13 colonies of British America became the United States of America. So really,

you could blame Britain for the use of 'America' in their name.

However, I think the single biggest reason 'America' has become a term for the USA is

because of the demonym of the country. Citizens of the US are called 'Americans'.

And the reason for this is simply... what's the alternative? I mean seriously, what else

can you use? United Staters? I don't think so.

In English, 'American' is literally the only logical word to describe US citizens.

Now, in Spanish, there's no such issue, they have the word "estadounidense". And that's

fine... in Spanish. Unfortunately the literal translation of this is, uh... "United Statesian".

Which is just... so wrong on just about every level and doesn't even make grammatical sense.

Now, in Spanish they also have the word 'americano' which is used to refer to all people from

the American continent. This is where the confusion comes from,americano

obviously translates to 'American', but they have totally different meanings.

I think the only way to address this issue, is people learning a foreign language need

to be taught words for their correct context and not simply the literal translation, as

well as being taught the way the different languages views the continents.

Therefore, 'americano' should not translated to 'American'. Although there really isn't

anything it can be translated to, since there is not continent called 'America' in English.

Still, it's not very common to refer to where you're from as a continent. I mean, I'm from

Europe but never once have I referred to myself as European.

Although on saying that the UK does love to pretend it's not part of Europe.

But despite this, South Americans do consider themselves Americans, although I don't really

see why. If you're from, let's say, Bolivia, you should be proud of that fact you're Bolivian.

Because if you say you're American it implies that you're not.

The US aside though , there is one other country that would strongly object to the term American

being used to mean everyone in the Americas: Canada.

I can assure you if that if someone from Argentina who speaks English went to Canada and referred

to locals as 'Americans', the friendliest people in the world would become significantly

less friendly to said individual. Canadians hate being mistaken for Americans

and given that their accents sound similar to those not from North America, most Canadians

probably have been mistaken for American while abroad.

And unfortunately, there are some incredibly ignorant people who probably think Canada

is part of the USA... which I can totally sympathize with given

that on several occasions after saying to people I'm Scottish, they think it's part

of England. But I digress...

Although speaking of Cananda, Canada is probably the only English-speaking country that would

perhaps not refer to their southern neighbour as 'America' and instead opt for using "the

States" or "the US". While on the subject of North America, the

Spanish word 'notreamericano', which means 'North American', is another word Latin Americans

sometimes use to refer to citizens of the USA. Dictionary.com defines the word to mean

'citizens or inhabitants of the US' and Urban dictionary.com says it's a 'more politically

correct way of saying "from the United States"'. But hold on a second, that's a little hypocritical,

"americano" is not an acceptable term for people from the US, but "norteamericano" is?

I can think of about 150 millions people who may find THAT offensive. There's more to North

America than just the USA. And if you're wondering why I didn't extend

the offensive south of Mexico, it's because North America means different things in English

and Spanish. In English, it's a continent, made up of 10

main-land countries. But in Spanish, it's a subcontinent of America consisting of just

Canada, the US and Mexico. Within the English and Spanish languages,

there really is no ambiguity at all. It's only when we speak each others' languages

that there becomes an issue. However, in other languages, such as German

and Dutch, ambiguity exists because 'Amerika' can mean both the country or the continent.

In German, some people use the term 'US-Americans' to refer to people from the US, to avoid ambiguity.

And maybe this sounds OK in German, but in English it just sounds... wrong.

The term 'American' is used officially used by the United Nations and is considered the

correct way to refer to people from the United States.

So... is America a country or a continent? Well, the short answer is... both. And the

long answer is that it really depends on what language you're speaking.

"America" can mean different things in different languages, in English, it can really only

refer to the country, whereas in some languages (such as Spainish) it can only refer to the