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'''''[[America (continent)| The Americas]] ''''' is a general term usually meaning North, Central and South America collectively.  

'''''[[America (continent)| The Americas]] ''''' is a general term usually meaning North, Central and South America collectively.  

 

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''The most common origin given for the name America is derived from that of the Italian merchant and navigator [[Amerigo Vespucci]], one of the earliest European explorers of the New World.  However, a competing theory has been put forward by Dr. Basil Cottle that America may have been named after a senior collector of Customs at Bristol, Richard Amerik, who was also one of the chief investors in the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot (the first recorded European to set foot on American soil in May 1497),<ref> [http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts1.html#americaname] </ref>.  How reliable each theory is is open to question as there are no contempory documents of the time that detail how the name America was arrived at.''

''The most common origin given for the name America is derived from that of the Italian merchant and navigator [[Amerigo Vespucci]], one of the earliest European explorers of the New World.  However, a competing theory has been put forward by Dr. Basil Cottle that America may have been named after a senior collector of Customs at Bristol, Richard Amerik, who was also one of the chief investors in the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot (the first recorded European to set foot on American soil in May 1497),<ref> [http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts1.html#americaname] </ref>.  How reliable each theory is is open to question as there are no contempory documents of the time that detail how the name America was arrived at.''