The problem is that the United States of America never got a name. Before independence, the thirteen colonies were indeed thirteen separate colonies. They lobbied the British government as separate colonies, they each had a royal governor appointed directly by the King. There was no over all council representing the colonies as a single entity. In fact, the colonies had even fought several wars with each other in border disputes.
This was pretty much the state until the 1770s when the British government started passing a series of laws that got the people in the various colonies upset, and they started thinking of themselves as having something in common.
When the colonies declared their independence, they were no longer “colonies” but independent states. Since they were united in the war against Britain, and in America (which was just another name for the New World), they called themselves “The united states of America”. Note that the word “united” and “states” were in lowercase. This name wasn’t so much of a country name as just a description of what they were. It wouldn’t be the “United States of America” until the Constitution.
There was a movement for a while after the passing of the Constitution to call this new country Columbia, and is one of the reasons that the capital district is called The District of Columbia. However, the movement never really took. By that time, people were too use to referring to themselves as the United States of America and as Americans. Since there were no other independent countries in the Americas at that time, and no other country styled itself as the United States, there was no real identification problem. (I guess the United Provinces of the Netherlands would come close).
Yes, various classifications of continents are shown here. Latin Americans consider the Americas to be a single continent, and also recognize as a continent “Oceania,” which includes Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.
Yes. Many Latin Americans use norteamericano in preference to estadounidense to indicate a citizen of the United States, despite the fact that it technically includes Canadians and Mexicans as well. Canadians are canadienses.
Please note our maps have North, Central and South America as regions. Mexico is in Central America. The USA is with Canada in North America. Mexico is on the North American Continent. See how freely terms are used.
Nothing stops another country from calling themselves Americans.
There are several ways to count the continents and there is no firm agreement on how to count. Depending how you do it there are anywhere from 4-7 continents on the planet.
And yes technically all people living in North/Central/South America could say they are Americans. I think the only reason people in the US are generally called American (and not the rest) is it is part of the name of the country (United States of America). People are lazy and just shorten it to Americans.
I do not think people from the United States tried to co-opt “American” and leave all the rest out. Just one of those things that worked out that way.
If you go by tectonic plates then there is a plate for North America (which extends to about the Yucatan Peninsula), a Caribbean plate (the rest of Central America) and a South American plate (all of South America). So, from that perspective North/Central/South America are almost correct designations as “separate” entities. A bit off with Mexico, Guatemala and Belize (not sure about the last two and where the line is drawn exactly).
In English, the word “American” when applied to a person by default means a citizen of the United States. Only rarely is “American” used to refer to an inhabitant of the Western Hemisphere in general.
In practice this is true in Latin America as well. I can’t ever recall hearing a Latin American referring to him or herself as an americano without a qualifier, unless they were trying to make a point.
Interestingly, at the time of the American War of Independence, Florida was not owned by Spain and Louisiana (the big chunk in te middle) was not owned by France.
As a result of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War), in 1763 Spain gave Florida to Britain and France gave Louisiana to Spain.
In 1783, Britain (who had been at war with Spain, Netherlands and France, in addition to facing revolt in their own colonies), gave Florida back to Spain as part of the peace deal.
After Napoleon conquered Spain, he forced them to give Louisiana back with no compensation. However, due to the war with Britain, France was unable to send officials to the New World. So when Lewis and Clark reached St Louis at the beginning of their expedition they found Spanish officials still running the place. They actually held a ceremony transferring control to France and then the next day another ceremony transferring it to the US.
In the 16th century, the word “American” referred to the native inhabitants of the Americas. The Indians. I don’t know at what point the name was transferred to the descendants of the European invaders.
I understand the Latin American sentiment that calling USA people Americans can be seen as a slight to Latin America. But then calling them norteamericanos is a slight to Canada-- so how is that any better? Two wrongs don’t make a right.
well, just as it seems odd that one country gets to claim the term “Americans” for themselves, ignoring all the other countries in the Americas, it seems equally odd to use a term that on its face includes all of North America to mean only the people of the United States. If you use the term, “North American”, I would assume that I’m included in that. But if you use that term only to mean “people of the United States”, then it’s a mis-appropriation of the term, just as “American” is.
I’m noy sure of the source for “your” maps but I have never seen México as part of Central America. It has always been part of the North America subcontinent.
Actually I have heard this complaint much more from people of countries other than México. I have seen this same question presented by Canadians many times. Are they pissed off at the USA?
Apparently you don’t read all of the posts in the thread. As I already pointed out, the most common word used for citizens of your country is estadoundinense. Norteamericano is a word that is used little. So how is that not a better word?
Secondly, I also said that I could care less if you use the term American to describe yourselves. Most people I know could also care less.
I am not sure from what information you formed your opinion. I detect some attitude clouding your thoughts.
Isn’t it kind of weird to object to what a country’s people call themselves in their own language? Especially when you have already have a different term in your language?
Georgians (state) don’t complain that Georgians (country) should use a different term for themselves, even though it’s pretty confusing sometimes.
If we are dealing in anecdotes, I have frequently heard this from Latin Americans, and never once heard it from a Canadian (or anyone else). A Honduran acquaintance of mine in graduate school had a particularly annoying habit of “correcting” anyone who used “American” in conversation by exclaiming “*North *American!” I’ve also been engaged in debate on the subject by Panamanian cab drivers and many others. If asked my nationality, I will usually just say “I’m from the United States” rather than americano just to avoid giving an opening to a tedious discussion.
Possibly it is the most common word in your area. In my experience, which includes 19 years residence in Panama, travel in 10 other Latin American countries including Mexico, and extensive reading of Spanish-language books, magazines, and newspapers, estadounidense is quite rare, and norteamericano is by far the most common way to refer to a citizen of the United States. YMMV.
This is probably true. Most Latin Americans I know don’t actually make an issue of it, and will often use americano themselves when referring to an estadounidense. But there is a small minority of who do like to bring it up.
No, they don’t. In practice norteamericano refers just to citizens of the United States, not to Canadians or Mexicans.