The semantics of "America"

[Ligeia]

I've searched for a thread about this topic but found none, so I post this here.
My question is:
Do you consider America to be a continent or two?
Is it a geographical or a cultural question or maybe both?

I ask,since I've always thought America is one continent.
Now, I've done some "googling" (I could find no books on this subject)and found that there exists the notion that America is not one continent but two: South and North.

Maybe this is a question which seems trivial.
But I can't see why there should be a division given that their exists a shared history (origin) in this landmass.
E.g. if you look "America" up in wikipedia you'll find different entries depending on the language:
"América es un continente ..."
"The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or (generally) the New World, consisting of the continets of North America and South America ..."
"A América é o continente..."

and so forth.....

Any explanations?opinions?

P.D.: Another question related to this.....Does anyone know why exactly the U.S.A has been called U.S. of America and not another name?
Is this real?: http://www.jstor.org/pss/486658?cookieSet=1
If so,there had to be reason for the end-result.

[Revy]

I've searched for a thread about this topic but found none, so I post this here.
My question is:
Do you consider America to be a continent or two?
Is it a geographical or a cultural question or maybe both?

I ask,since I've always thought America is one continent.
Now, I've done some "googling" (I could find no books on this subject)and found that there exists the notion that America is not one continent but two: South and North.

Maybe this is a question which seems trivial.
But I can't see why there should be a division given that their exists a shared history (origin) in this landmass.
E.g. if you look "America" up in wikipedia you'll find different entries depending on the language:
"América es un continente ..."
"The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or (generally) the New World, consisting of the continets of North America and South America ..."
"A América é o continente..."

and so forth.....

Any explanations?opinions?

P.D.: Another question related to this.....Does anyone know why exactly the U.S.A has been called U.S. of America and not another name?

the US was never given a name of its own, like Canada. That's why. So there was nothing else but to refer to the fact that it was part of the continent of America. The name stuck.

In the U.S., people are generally taught that there are seven continents (in contrast to the traditional five). Therefore, North America and South America are seen as separate continents. This is why "the Americas" is said instead of "America" in reference to the continent.

[Raúl Duke]

The concept is actually pretty fluid...sometimes the continent is divided into 3 parts: North American, Central America, and South America. Sometimes I heard of people referring to Mexico being part of Central America instead of North America. According to the Spanish wiki on Central America mostly only English-speaking countries eliminate the concept of Central America and include it into South America. (This is why I found it strange that you mention the choice between 1 America and the "usual" 2 americas when I'm used to 3; since my high school education was mostly in an hispanic country.)

In Spanish you can refer to the Americans as "estadounidense" which is roughly like saying "USAian" (although it's a normal word in Spanish while this English word is odd) and when saying "Americano" you could refer to the whole continent (i.e. From the North, Alaska, all the way to the South, Tierra del Fuego) especially when used as an adjective in some cases (mostly among intellectuals and certain people of certain political ideologies). However, usually when "Americano" is used in Spanish it usually refers to the people of the U.S.

[Ligeia]

The concept is actually pretty fluid...sometimes the continent is divided into 3 parts: North American, Central America, and South America. Sometimes I heard of people referring to Mexico being part of Central America instead of North America. According to the Spanish wiki on Central America mostly only English-speaking countries eliminate the concept of Central America and include it into South America. (This is why I found it strange that you mention the choice between 1 America and the "usual" 2 americas when I'm used to 3; since my high school education was mostly in an hispanic country.)

In Spanish you can refer to the Americans as "estadounidense" which is roughly like saying "USAian" (although it's a normal word in Spanish while this English word is odd) and when saying "Americano" you could refer to the whole continent (i.e. From the North, Alaska, all the way to the South, Tierra del Fuego) especially when used as an adjective in some cases (mostly among intellectuals and certain people of certain political ideologies). However, usually when "Americano" is used in Spanish it usually refers to the people of the U.S.

Well, I was talking about the concept of continents.
I'm aware that America is divided into 3 regions. (mind, regions not continents).
I am half-mexican ,so I know spanish. I probably should have included that in the first post.
But still, I was asking "why?".
Geographical reasons solely? Cultural reasons? Both?

Just look at e.g. Jose Marti's Neustra America (not referring to the states but to the whole ...."landmass"?) or a Mexican example of everyday-life: the Club America (the soccer team) which shows the whole continent(or continents?) but refers to America and not Americas.

And then,the way it's taught in some schools: One continent (I went to school somewhere in Europe) or more (probably U.S.A and I don't know where else this concept is taught).....

I'm just wondering: Is it a geographical concept which has not been updated or is it a cultural concept and there are certain reasons for the naming?

I also don't want to know how Estadounidenses are called but why their country is called the way it is and not another.

[el_chavista]

It's hard in Spanish to specify the nationality of the people from the USA due to the existence of the "Estados Unidos (United States) of México". Both are American, North American and "Estado-unidenses" ("United-statesian"). The easy way is calling them gringos!

[Ligeia]

It's hard in Spanish to specify the nationality of the people from the USA due to the existence of the "Estados Unidos (United States) of México". Both are American, North American and "Estado-unidenses" ("United-statesian"). The easy way is calling them gringos!

I wasn't asking for the "how" but for the "why".
I hope that anyone actually reads what I wrote and answers in some way or another.
My questions are questions concerning history and culture (some geography,too)....:mellow:
I never asked "how do you call these people or this country?" but "why"....

[Pogue]

Two continents. When people refer to 'The Americas' I usually assume they mean the south and central mainly, not the north.

[el_chavista]

I wasn't asking for the "how" but for the "why".
I hope that anyone actually reads what I wrote and answers in some way or another.
My questions are questions concerning history and culture (some geography,too)....:mellow:
I never asked "how do you call these people or this country?" but "why"....


Historically (since the "discovery") it's one continent named after Italian sailor Americo Vespucio.
Geographically, there are 3 continental plaques: North , Central and South Americas (besides another small ones).
"Hegemonically", the gringos appropriate the term for themselves. The rest of the world second them.

[mikelepore]

I wasn't asking for the "how" but for the "why".


Probably just a habit of popular speech, because the narrowness of Panama and Costa Rica causes a lot of people to visualize them as a bridge connecting the places to the north of them and the places to the south of them.

Scientifically, the test of an individual continent is whether you have a separate chunk of continental crust, mainly silicon dioxide which floats higher on the semi-molten mantle, surrounded by oceanic crust, basalt which is denser and floats lower on the mantle.

Popular names of the continents are misleading. For example, Australia and India are the same plate. The water in between hides the real structure below.

[Ligeia]

Probably just a habit of popular speech, because the narrowness of Panama and Costa Rica causes a lot of people to visualize them as a bridge connecting the places to the north of them and the places to the south of them.

Scientifically, the test of an individual continent is whether you have a separate chunk of continental crust, mainly silicon dioxide which floats higher on the semi-molten mantle, surrounded by oceanic crust, basalt which is denser and floats lower on the mantle.

Popular names of the continents are misleading. For example, Australia and India are the same plate. The water in between hides the real structure below.

So,scientifically the naming of "continents" is wrong.(Asia and Europe,Americas,India and Australia)
Nonetheless, distinctions are made or not, regardless wether they are correct or not.
Which leads to the question why some continents are named correct and others not.

E.g.I've come to the conclusion that mainly in the U.S. the 7 continents concept is taught(not only in the US but also there) ,in other places it's the 5 continents concept(at least it seems to me that the 5 cc is used more than the 7 one).
So,do some people just feel the need to suddenly use the correct concept but ignore others?

I don't see why there should be a distinction (geographical distinctions are always right)made on geographical reasons when it seems it's always the cultural reason that reigns.
Now if that's the case why separate the cultures from North and South America?