[1] Our geographies were wont to credit this nobleman with having givenhis name to the continent, but modern research has shown this to be anerror. The country was already called by the native inhabitantsAmarca, or America, which Vespucci very appropriately retained in hiswritten account of the New World, the first that was given to thescholars of that day. From this fact his name became associated withthat country, and he became known as "Amerigo" Vespucci, which was veryappropriate, though his real name was Albertigo. Later writers,without stopping to investigate, declared that the continent had beennamed for him, and in that way others accepted the mistake as a fact.The truth is the name of "America" is older and grander than that ofany of those who followed in the train of Columbus, and was thatappellation given it by the ancient Peruvians, the most highlycivilized people on the Western Continent at the coming of the GreatDiscoverer.--AUTHOR.
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