The Pakistani Spectator

By Carlos Alfonso Rojas Valdiri:

From the point of view of the Latin American people, it has been (and it is) a very misleading and abusive habit of the political, journalistic and academic circles of the United States of America (USA) and -by their influence- others, to call (name) that country ‘America’, and ‘Americans’ its citizens, institutions and products.

Somebody who know the origin of the term ‘America’ had to remember that the Italian geographer Amerigo Vespucci was the first European to draw (about 1500 A.D.) a comprehensive map of the recently discovered (?) New World, and he signed that map with his first name ‘, which –lightly modified as ‘America’- become the generalized name for that enormous landmass.

The original (1776 A.D.) thirteen colonies which formed the USA were a relatively small piece of land, alongside the Atlantic Coast, from the Canadian border to the present Georgia. Lately (1802 A.D.), the German explorer and scientists Alexander Von Humboldt advised to President Thomas Jefferson to ‘take’ the wilder territories West of that country. But it was President James Monroe who (1823 A.D.) established and imposed the imperialistic ‘doctrine’ known as the ‘Monroe doctrine’, which implied “America for the Americans”, meaning that USA had the right to control and exploit the whole continent, putting away any attempt of other powers to play the game.

Since that time -and according to the Monroe doctrine- USA has been using the term ‘America’ to refer that country, and ‘American’ to identified its people, institutions and products. That odious discrimination was reinforced when (1917 A.D.), at the end of WWI, some USA troops landed on Western Europe. Then, the European people said: “¡The American has come!”

The described situation is a clear example of prepotency and abuse, stimulated by the cowardice of other peoples of America, and –obviously- by the huge roll of USA in world affairs.

Historically and geographically, since the begin of the XVI century, AMERICA has meaning the whole mass of land (including the arctic and Caribbean islands) which span from Alaska and Greenland to Patagonia. Of course, AMERICAN means the people, animals, plants, geographical accidents, and other physical and conceptual structures originated in AMERICA, specially before the arrival of Europeans. So, the very truly ‘Americans‘ are the aboriginal people of that territories (Eskimo, Apache, Azteca, Maya, Caribbean, Inca, Guaraní, …). Ahhh…, Since Columbus thought he was arrived to India, he and his followers named ‘Indian’ the people they found in the New World. Obviously, that people had nothing to do with people from the Indian subcontinent. So, the native Americans should be recognized by means other name. I suggest the term AMERIGENS (in Spanish, AMERÍGENAS) to fulfill this idiomatical vacuum.

Finally, it is necessary to recommend to the World’s media to be very cautious when using the terms ‘America’ and ‘American’ to means something originated or belonging to the American continent. It is necessary to take into account that Mexicans, Cubans, Colombians, Brazilians,…, all are ‘Americans’ too.

Medellín, Colombia, March of 2008

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