History UsefulNotes / TheAmericas

America is a continent. Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the [[HornyVikings Vikings]] found UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} by way of UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}} and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in UsefulNotes/TheCaribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

America was populated at some point during the Ice Age. While it was often held that people came first through the stretch of Bering (the one mentioned above), now it has been theorized and mostly confirmed that the first people came not from the north, but from the south in the same way of the people who afterwards populated UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and most of UsefulNotes/{{Oceania}}'s islands, as shown by the fact that the first signs of civilization are found mostly in South America: the city of Caral, first city of the continent, is the prime example.

The "correct" term of calling the continents is America, because they are a whole mass of land, that unites South and North as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia.

If you're looking for the country that's erroneously referred to as "America", that's UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

The term "American" refers to anyone who was born in the continent.

Fun fact: The formal Spanish terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''Estadounidense'' and ''Estadunidense'' respectively; "American" does not apply and should not be used.

! Regions

[[UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica North]] and UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to confusion with the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the [[HornyVikings Vikings]] found UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} by way of UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}} and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in UsefulNotes/TheCaribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

The continents of America were populated at some point during the Ice Age. While it was often held that people came first through the stretch of Bering (the one mentioned above), now it has been theorized and mostly confirmed that the first people came not from the north, but from the south in the same way of the people who afterwards populated UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and most of UsefulNotes/{{Oceania}}'s islands, as shown by the fact that the first signs of civilization are found mostly in South America: the city of Caral, first city of the continent, is the prime example.

The "correct" term of calling the continents is something disputed and depends on the language: most of the speakers of Romance languages, as well as Greek, and some non-European languages refer to the continent as America, uniting South and North and seeing them as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia; English speakers, along with some other languages, however, tend to call the continents in plural form and usually include Central America as part of North America.

If you're looking for the country that's frequently referred to as "America", that's UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

The term "American" is something of debate and its roots are often found in the identification of the countries of the continents: the Spanish and Portuguese called American anyone who was born in the continents, a trend continued by the nations of Ibero-America; the English and other Germanic European groups instead named the inhabitants of its colonies as Americans. Which terms must be given priority is a topic of heated debate.

Fun fact: The formal Spanish terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''Estadounidense'' and ''Estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be, United Statesian, which sounds very awkward for English and other Germanic speakers. As such, the proper term in all English dialects for someone from the United States is ''American'', Though some Spanish speakers may also use "Americano" to refer to US Americans, but this is uncommon. In Portuguese, they would use "Estadounidense" in Brazilian Portuguese, while European Portuguese refers to them as "Norteamericano", though it may also be used to refer to North America (Specifically the Big Three Countries), while at other times, they may use "Americano". Similarly, in French, they may sometimes refer to US Americans as "états-unien", while at other times, they may refer to them as "américain".

Even though some non-english speakers prefer to use "America" to refer to a whole continent, it isn't scientifically supported as North and South America lie on different tectonic plates.

----
!! Continents
* UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica
* UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica

!! Regions

[[UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica North]] and UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to confusion with the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the [[HornyVikings Vikings]] found UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} by way of UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}} and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

[[UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica North]] and UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to confusion with the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

[[UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica North]] and UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to the US confusion). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

North and South America, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to the US confusion). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much aside from trade ports and a [[https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/02/20/old-world-vs-new-the-first-battles-between-native-north-americans-and-europeans/ conflict]]. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

In the realms that the Spaniards created (hence the appearance of the Viceroys), the natives were assimilated as subjects at the same theoretical level as the Spaniards themselves and given protection (at least on paper and whenever this could be enforced, obviously), and a lot of the native aristocracy, politics and languages were kept because they helped run things. In the Portuguese and French holdings, the natives were treated in a similar way, although not as interactive. The Portuguese in particular found their lands problematically low in developed native societies, so they resorted to their commercial ties to buy slaves in masse from African kingdoms and build large agricultural cores.

This didn't mean that Amerindians were not exploited, which was something that did happen through the actions of conquistadores and rulers away from the crown's watching eye. Sectors such as the UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca and UsefulNotes/BartolomeDeLasCasas worked for the natives' protection and eventually convinced the then King UsefulNotes/CharlesV to pass stricter laws,[[note]][[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs Queen Isabella the Catholic]] had left as one of her last wishes the protection of the inhabitants of America[[/note]] which resulted in abolishment of most of the properties of the conquistadores and the emergence of new systems.

Similarly, while the Catholic Church was involved in the destruction of material that was culturally invaluable, it also formed the corpus behind any protection of the natives (the very argument that Amerindians were regular humans with souls and everything was something well established by Catholic theologists and it was never doubted), gave some of the original languages an alphabet and written forms in order to keep them alive, and encouraged development of inter-cultural art like the Cusco School.

North and South America, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in Germanic languages and some other languages due to the US confusion). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

The arrival of the UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}ans changed everything, down to naming issues, as the whole continents would receive their collective name from the likely unaware UsefulNotes/AmerigoVespucci. In general, the diseases and the actions of the people who came killed many of the Amerindians that lived before and destroyed many expressions of their culture. However, what happened in particular to the indigenous population was something that varied between the territories.

North and South America, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in English due to the US confusion). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into [[UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans the native peoples of the continents]]. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

What happened to the Amerindians on the English and Dutch holdings is known history.

The "correct" term of calling the continents is something disputed and depends on the language: most of the speakers of Romance languages, as well as Greek, and some non-European languages refer to the continent as America, uniting South and North and seeing them as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia; English speakers, along with some other languages, however, tend to call the continents in plural form, and usually include Central America as part of North America.

The term "American" is something of debate and its roots are often found in the identification of the countries of the continents: the Spanish and Portuguese called American anyone who was born in the continents, a trend continued by the nations of Ibero-America; the English instead named the inhabitants of its colonies as Americans. Which terms must be given priority is a topic of heated debate.

Fun fact: The formal Spanish terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''Estadounidense'' and ''Estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be, United Statesian, which sounds very awkward for English speakers. As such, the proper term in all English dialects for someone from the United States is ''American'', Though some Spanish speakers may also use "Americano" to refer to US Americans, but this is uncommon. In Portuguese, they would use "Estadounidense" in Brazilian Portuguese, while European Portuguese refers to them as "Norteamericano", though it may also be used to refer to North America (Specifically the Big Three Countries), while at other times, they may use "Americano". Similarly, in French, they may sometimes refer to US Americans as "états-unien", while at other times, they may refer to them as "américain".

The "correct" term of calling the continents is something disputed and depends on the language: most of the speakers of Romance and Asian languages refer to the continent as America, uniting South and North and seeing them as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia; anglo-speakers, however, tend to call the continents in plural form, and usually include Central America as part of North America.

Fun fact: The formal Spanish and Portuguese terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''Estadounidense'' and ''Estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be, United Statesian, which sounds very awkward for English speakers. As such, the proper term in all English dialects for someone from the United States is ''American''.

The arrival of the UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}ans changed everything, in general, the diseases and the actions of the people who came killed many of the Amerindians that lived before and destroyed many expressions of their culture. However, what happened in particular to the indigenous population was something that varied between the territories: in the realms that the Spaniards created (hence the appearance of the Viceroys) the natives were assimilated as subjects at the same level as the Spaniards themselves and given protection (at least on paper and whenever this could be enforced, obviously), most notorious is the nobility that survived the civil wars that the Spaniards exploited as they kept some of their previous privileges. In the Portuguese and French holdings the natives were treated in a similar way, although not as active.

This didn't mean that Amerindians were not exploited, which was something that did happen through the actions of the Conquistadores and rulers away from the crown's watching eye, but there were sectors who honestly tried to protect them such as the UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca and UsefulNotes/BartolomeDeLasCasas, who eventually convinced the then King Charles I to pass stricter laws of protection for the Amerindians [[note]]Queen Isabel the Catholic had left as one of her last wishes the protection of the inhabitants of America [[/note]] that resulted in abolishment of most of the properties of the Conquistadores.

On the other hand, while the Church was involved in the destruction of material that was culturally invaluable, it also protected the natives (the very argument that Amerindians were regular humans with souls and everything was something well established by Catholic theologists and it was never doubted), gave some of the original languages an alphabet and written forms in order to keep them alive and encouraged the creation of the Cuzco School of Art.

The term "American" is something of debate and its roots are often found in the identification of the countries of the continents: the Spanish and Portuguese called American anyone who was born in the continents, a trend continued by the nations of Latin America; the English instead named the inhabitants of its colonies as Americans. Which terms must be given priority is a topic of heated debate.

Fun Fact: The formal Spanish and Portuguese terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''Estadounidense'' and ''Estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be, United Statesian, which sounds very awkward for English speakers. As such, the proper term in all English dialects for someone from the United States is ''American''.

The arrival of the UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}ans changed everything, in general, the diseases and the actions of the people who came killed many of the Amerindians that lived before and destroyed many expressions of their culture. However, what happened in particular to the indigenous population was something that varied between the territories: in the realms that the Spaniards created (hence the appearance of the Viceroys) the natives were assimilated and given protection (at least on paper), most notorious is the nobility that survived the civil wars that the Spaniards exploited as they kept some of their previous privileges. In the Portuguese and French holdings the natives were treated in a similar way, although not as active.

This didn't mean that Amerindians were not exploited, that was something that did happen through the actions of the Conquistadores and rulers, but there were people who honestly tried to protect them such as Bartolome de las Casas, who eventually convinced the then King Charles I to pass stricter laws of protection for the Amerindians [[note]]Queen Isabel the Catholic had left as one of her last wishes the protection of the inhabitants of America [[/note]] that resulted in abolishment of most of the properties of the Conquistadores.

On the other hand, while the Church was involved in the destruction of material that was culturally invaluable, it also protected the natives (the very argument that Amerindians had souls was something proposed by Catholic theologists), gave some of the original languages an alphabet and written forms in order to keep them alive and encouraged the creation of the Cuzco School of Art.

Fun Fact: The formal Spanish and Portuguese terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''estadounidense'' and ''estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be United Statesian, a term used by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. That's very awkward in all English dialects because it's never used and the proper term, in all English dialects, for someone from the United States is ''American''.

Fun Fact: The formal Spanish and Portuguese terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''estadounidense'' and ''estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be Usonian, a term used by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. That's very awkward in all English dialects because it's never used and the proper term, in all English dialects, for someone from the United States is ''American''.

The term "American" is something of debate and its roots are often found in the identification of the countries of the continents: the Spanish and Portuguese called American anyone who was born in the continents, a trend continued by the nations of Latin America; the English instead named the inhabitants of its colonies as Americans. Which terms must be given priority is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment something that won't be discussed here]].

On the other hand, while the Church was involved in the destruction of material that was culturally invaluable, it also protected the natives (the very argument that Amerindians had souls was something proposed by Catholic teologists), gave some of the original languages an alphabet and written forms in order to keep them alive and encouraged the creation of the Cuzco School of Art.

North and South America, also called America by most Hispanic speakers (not that used in English due to the US confusion). Two land masses of immigrants: The first peoples came from Asia on foot, via the Siberian-Alaskan land bridge and diversified into the native peoples of the continents. Then the Vikings found Canada by way of Greenland and didn't do very much. Then UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus tried to reach {{UsefulNotes/India}} by sailing West, and landed in the Caribbean instead. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued.]]

The continents of America were populated at some point during the Ice Age. While it was often held that people came first through the stretch of Bering (the one mentioned above), now it has been theorized and mostly confirmed that the first people came not from the north, but from the south in the same way of the people who afterwards populated Australia and most of Oceania's islands, as shown by the fact that the first signs of civilization are found mostly in South America: the city of Caral, first city of the continent, is the prime example.

They were also home to various different and unique cultures, the most representative ones being the Aztecs in North America, the Mayans in North and Central America, and the Incas in South America.

The arrival of the Europeans changed everything, in general, the diseases and the actions of the people who came killed many of the Amerindians that lived before and destroyed many expressions of their culture. However, what happened in particular to the indigenous population was something that varied between the territories: in the realms that the Spaniards created (hence the appearance of the Viceroys) the natives were assimilated and given protection (at least on paper), most notorious is the nobility that survived the civil wars that the Spaniards exploited as they kept some of their previous privileges. In the Portuguese and French holdings the natives were treated in a similar way, although not as active.

The term "American" is something of debate and its roots are often found in the identification of the countries of the continents: the Spanish and Portuguese called American anyone who was born in the continents, a trend continued by the nations of Latin America; the English instead named the inhabitants of its colonies as Americans. Which terms must be given priority is [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement something that won't be discussed here]].

The "correct" term of calling the continents is something disputed and depends on the language: most of the speakers of Romance and Asian languages refer to the continent as America, uniting South and North and seeing them as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia; anglo-speakers, however, tend to call the continents in plural form, and tend to include Central America as part of North America.

The "correct" term of calling the continents is something disputed and depends on the language: most of the speakers of Romance and Asian languages refer to the continents as America, uniting South and North and seeing them as subcontinents of a whole and adding one more subcontinent, Central America, to make allusion to the nations between Mexico and Colombia; anglo-speakers, however, tend to call the continents in plural form, and tend to include Central America as part of North America.

Fun Fact: The formal Spanish and Portuguese terms to call an American, as in someone born in the US, is ''estadounidense'' and ''estadunidense'' respectively; its rough equivalent in English would be Usonian, a term used by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. That's very awkward in all English dialects because it's never used and the proper term, in all English dialects, for someone from the United States is ''American''. The proper Spanish/Portugese term for someone from the US is either ''Americano'' or ''Americana''.