Re: OT: Renaming the continents

Thomas R. Wier writes:
 > Quoting Tim May <butsuri@...>:
 >
 > > All the continents seem to have essentially
 > > been named by Europeans, which in itself seems rather unfair.  Europe
 > > clearly doesn't deserve the same status as the other continents on any
 > > geographical ground.
 >
 > You're forgetting that for centuries, even well after the discovery
 > of the Americas, Europeans did not refer to "Europe" as a
 > geographical or geopolitical entity at all.  They referred
 > to "Christendom", which was, until just before the discovery
 > of the Americas, essentially coextensive with what we now call
 > "Europe".  "Europe" only came to be used in its current sense
 > after the humanism of the late Renaissance and the extension
 > of the (Muslim) Ottoman Empire deep into the Balkans.
 >
In what sense was Europe used previously to this?

 > Besides, I don't see why geography should be the only salient
 > determiner of placenames.
 >
 > > Returning to the new world, Vespucci doesn't seem to have done
 > > anything to justify naming most of the Western Hemisphere after
 > > him.
 >
 > Actually, Amerigo Vespucci didn't name them after himself.
 > The German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, who produced
 > the first map of the world that incorporated the two
 > continents, named them after him.
 >

I know.  I didn't say he named them after himself - I said he didn't
do anything to justify naming them after him.

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