Say what now?

the Americas

1.

Some people of late have come up with the idea that the Americas were not named after, you know who, but instead after a god "Amaru". People of whom are called "Amaruca". Well, skip that. Let's talk about...

The story of Amerigo Vespucci.

The famed geezer was often seen by his contemporaries (and many people to-day) as a charlatan and a fraud. A hustler with a habit of self-reinventing any time some trouble was brewing. Luckily, he had some very powerful friends. Otherwise not very much is actually publicly known about him,  except that people nod their heads at the continent(s) being named after him.

What the studies suggest, Mr. Vespucci spent a considerable time "looking for himself" through his life. He was a sort of a pimp at his youth, flowing through self-given titles, such as, "agent". He seems to have been a compulsive liar or, at least, very eager to "color" his stories about himself. Later, he even named himself "magus", which is basically a priestly magician of sorts. A holder of mysteries, if you will.

In his writings, there is a lot of egotistical rhetoric with a lot of bombast. No one really knows what's true and what's fabrication. Even his grand travels are put to question. It's said that "The evidence for Vespucci's voyages of exploration consists almost entirely of a handful of letters written by him or attributed to him." But, hey... it's good to rub shoulders with powerful people. People like Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, to whom he wrote about the Mundus Novus that 'he' found. More or less heavily edited versions of this letter spread around, got translated and gained massive popularity, leading to a version of his name being written in official maps.

Who did the editing? Why? We don't really know. You might speculate it was for power. For piggybacking on the fame and glory of his, borrowed by him from others. In addition, many (letter) forgeries were published in his name, but that's another story entirely.

2.

The South Europeans were, of course, not the first to find the Americas, or the second etc. But let's talk about the Norsemen/Vikings. These folks established some or a lot of villages and trading posts on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of which have "mysteriously gone missing". It's been thought that the Norsemen only grazed the Americas way North. What if they went all the way south instead? Perhaps to escape harsh winters, or to explore. After all, it's relatively easy to follow land/coast anyway.

Some have speculated that the ever-so-common "great sea serpent" of the original people of Latin America was actually inspired by the Norsemen. By their famous decorated longboat (that has been made at least since 4th century BCE, as the evidence goes, and why not much earlier). You could argue that the original Olmec "La Venta Stele 19" looks a lot like a head of the legendary Norsemen/Viking Drakkar/dreki boat.

Shipwise it's not even that much of a long shot considering the Austronesians crossed pacific around 3000 BCE on canoes.

The version of the "great sea serpent" by the Mayan and especially the Aztec is, coincidentally, connected to the cardinal direction of west, and whiteness. The same character has a beard, according to the legends, decorated with bird feathers. The same legends claim the "plumed serpent" created "new people" in the region. Which probably has absolutely nothing to do with the Norsemen, but it would be suspicious, if they didn't sail south from Greenland and Canada. Based on evidence, not accepted by all, they did. A lot has surely been lost to time and conditions.

As a curiosity: the Inca were familiar with a "(bearded) white god". Some claim it was a later addition by the Spaniards, but then, see the Moche bearded men. Just have a look and say there's zero resemblance to the Norsemen.

;) Feel free to vent your outrage in the comments. (:

Next time, something completely same but different.