The United States of Florida

Out of a renewed sense of nationalism in some places around the world, many governments are renaming their territories from the name given to the territory by the illegitimate colonizers to a more accurate, "original" name. Some of the documentations of these "original" names are speculative at best, and akin to legend in many cases. Some examples are the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai, or Burma to Myanmar, and although there has not been an effort to rename the island, many locals regard Temasek as the "true" name for Singapore.

In all honestly, people assign names to various places according to their purpose, and as the territory changes hands to different rulers, so its name may change as well. No particular name has any more or less validity than another, rather it is merely a reflection of that particular regime's personal preferences. The ancient civilization of Ur, for example, has traded through a multitude of hands through the centuries, but it does not appear that there is a push in present day Iraq to rename the city of Baghdad to Babylon or Ur anytime soon.

I decided to apply this nationalist logic of "original name" to the current territory of the United States of America, since the use of the short name, "America" applied to this territory is controversial due to it's association with a much larger territory.

What was the "original" name for the current territory of the United States?

Is "America" an appropriate shortened name for this territory, or should it be changed to a more historically accurate and less controversial name?

1584 map by Jerónimo de Chaves made after Hernando De Soto's expedition into La Florida, which included trekking into the Mississippi River Valley and the Appalachian Mountains.

I began a quest to answer this question by researching the first expeditions to the New World. Even though there are well documented claims that a Chinese explorer Zhou Wen made it to the New World in 1421, for whatever reason that expedition did not have a subsequent political impact in the region. So I began focusing on the Spanish, Portuguese, and French explorations.

It's really funny because after three trips to the New World, Columbus swore to his death-bead that he had made it to China and "The Indies". Other explorers in the region, and other cartographers more familiar with the east coast of Asia were not so convinced, and asserted that Columbus had actually discovered a Terra Incognito, Terra Neuvo, or "New World". This was the name first assigned to the entire Western Hemisphere.

Because of Columbus's stubbornness on this issue, and the fact that he was exposed as a cruel and incompetent explorer, that the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller decided to name the entire New World after the explorer Americus Vespucius instead. The exact nature and geography of this New World were still far from understood though, and it would take over 200 years before maps began to shape into images recognizable from space.

The Spanish were the first to explore the New World, and were given exclusive rights to the territory according to the Papal Bull of 1493. The first area they settled in the New World was on the island of Hispaniola. Without the aid of satellite images, the way that these early explorers formed how they understood the geography around them was through a combination of ship logs as well as local descriptions of the coastal and interior areas.

The area directly to the South and West of Hispaniola was the first area of focus for the Spanish explorers, but very quickly the explorers learned about the legend of Bimini to the north from the local Arawak natives on Cuba and Hispaniola.

Bimini was a mythical island to the north of Cuba which the locals described as full of wealth and supposedly contained waters with healing powers. This mythical island-nation was very similar to the Grecian legend of Atlantis. Ponce De Leon was so enchanted by this legend of Bimini that he set off on an expedition to explore the territory north of Cuba. Supposedly he was looking for the healing waters of the Fountain of Youth to treat his impotence problem.

On April 2, 1513, Ponce landed somewhere near present day Daytona Beach, and named the territory "Florida" because he landed during Pascua Florida, the Christian Easter holiday, and probably because there were probably several flowers in bloom at that time. He claimed the territory for Spain, according to the authority granted to him by the Papal Bull.

For Ponce, this territory was ultimately not very welcoming, as he died of an attack by the vicious natives, the Calusa. This harsh territory north of Cuba would remain underdeveloped for another 50 years, which would give the French and British opportunity to challenge Spanish sovereignty in the area.

That same year, 1513, the Spanish explorer Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean, or the "South Seas". Spanish development of South and Central America rapidly took a progressive turn when they took over the Aztec Empire in 1519 and the Incas in 1532.

Knowledge of the territory north of Cuba was still mysterious though, due to extremely hostile encounters with the natives and the failed expedition by Narvaez in 1528. Little was known of the geography and many believed the entire landmass of North America to be an island they called Terra Florida, as depicted in a map by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515, and reiterating the original concept of the legend of Bimini.

Leonardo da Vinci's 1515 map of the New World, which reflects one of the common theories at that time that the North American continent was an island known as Terra Florida.

This map clearly illustrates that "America" was a term designated for the landmass to the south of Cuba, and Terra Florida the territory to the north.

Eventually, Hernando de Soto would disprove the island theory when he successfully lead an expedition into Terra Florida and provide the first detailed description of the geography north of Cuba. The area was still controlled by hostile local tribes, and settlement in the area was still limited. Though Spain held the original claim to all of the New World, the French and English were quickly beginning to challenge Spanish sovereignty to the north of Cuba.

in 1523 an Italian explorer Giovanni da Verazzano under the French service started to explore the east coast of the landmass north of Cuba. During his journey he incorrectly assumed that a vast ocean existed which divided the landmass into two parts, the southern part which was still referred to as Terra Florida, and the Northern part presumably a territory of potential interest for the French. This false "Sea of Verazzano" was seen as an oversight on the part of Giovanni, but may likely have been a part of a political attempt to convince those back in Europe that this northern landmass was separate from the Terra Florida under Spanish control, and thus candidate for French colonization.

One of the earliest maps of the New World by Sebastian Münster ca 1540, which labels the area presently known as the United States as "Terra Florida".

In short, the original name of the North American landmass north of Cuba was certainly "Florida", and not "America" but do we see people now wanting to be called "Floridans" instead of "Americas", or is there a push to rename the territory to "The United States of Florida"? No, and though this may seem like a silly idea, it's no less preposterous than renaming Bombay to Mumbai.