**Origin and Development of the Term ‘New World’**
– Amerigo Vespucci credited for term ‘New World’
– Venetian explorer Cadamosto used ‘another world’ for Africa
– Peter Martyr d’Anghiera coined alternative names for discovered lands
– Columbus proposed South America as terrestrial paradise
– Columbus referred to reaching ‘new heavens and world’
– Vespucci’s term ‘Mundus Novus’ in 1503 letter
– Vespucci realized New World in Brazil in 1501
– Vespucci’s struggle to reconcile West Indies with East Indies
– Vespucci’s letter to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Medici
– Vespucci’s application of New World label to South America
– Conference of navigators in 1505 to discuss the New World
**Acceptance and Impact of the Term ‘New World’**
– Vespucci’s New World label widely accepted
– Shift in European understanding of world geography
– Contributed to the Age of Discovery
– Led to further exploration and colonization of the Americas
– Signified the beginning of a new era in global history
– 1504 globe depicts New World as only South America
– North America not yet discovered at the time
– Vespucci’s comments didn’t eliminate Columbus’s belief
**Delimitation of the ‘New World’**
– 1529 Padrón Real map shows Americas as the New World
– Early maps depicted large ocean between Asia and Americas
– Some maps showed Asian land stretching into western hemisphere
– Waldseemüller map of 1507 placed open sea between Asia and New World
– Pacific Ocean separating Asia from Americas confirmed by Magellan’s voyage
**Contemporary and Particular Usage of the Term ‘New World’**
– Term ‘New World’ often used in discussing Columbus’ voyages and European colonization
– Criticized for colonial perspective and oversimplifying historic complexity
– Suggested age of Western colonialism entered a new stage
– In wine terminology, New World includes regions outside Europe, North Africa, Near East
– Biologically, species categorized as Old World or New World
– New World crops like maize, beans, squash originally domesticated in Americas
**Related Concepts to the Term ‘New World’**
– Geography, history, and world portals linked to New World
– History of Antarctica, Australia, Norse colonization of North America
– Common Old World crops introduced to Americas post-Columbian contact
– New World crops include sweet potatoes, cocoa, guava, pineapple
– Sources discuss classification of countries and people
– Critiques raised about labeling America as the New World
The term "New World" is a predominantly archaic term, excepting some specific uses described below, that references the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. The term is an expression of Eurocentrism and is one of several terms utilized to categorize and classify peoples and nations that many view as having origins in colonialism and, by extension, racism. The term gained prominence in the early 16th century during Europe's Age of Discovery, after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin-language pamphlet Mundus Novus, presenting his conclusion that these lands, soon called America based on Amerigo's name, constitute a new continent.
This realization expanded the geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that the world only included Afro-Eurasian lands. Africa, Asia and Europe became collectively called the "Old World" of the Eastern Hemisphere, while the Americas were then referred to as "the fourth part of the world", or the "New World".
Australia and Antarctica are considered neither Old World nor New World lands, since they were only colonized by Europeans much later. They were associated instead with the Terra Australis that had been posited as a hypothetical southern continent.