Question

What did explorers call North America in the 16th and 17th centuries?

Answer 1

Answer:

The New World, America, and North America

Explanation:

In 1492, Columbus thought he had reached India.

However, a famous explorer, navigator, and contemporary of Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, recognized that this was a New World (called "Novus Mundus" in maps).

In 1507, a famous mapmaker used Vespucci's descriptions of his travels to create a map in which he called the landmass America in the explorer's honour.  

At the time, countries had feminine names, so the name went from Italian Amerigo to Latin (m.) Americus to Latin (f.) America.

All North and South America was considered as one entity, and the name was placed on South America (see image).

Within three decades, the names became North and South America.

However, North America quickly became divided into areas named after the countries that had "discovered" them: New France, New England, New Spain, etc. Local explorers probably used the local names of the territories through which they were travelling.