Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian sailor who, a decade after the discovery of a new route to India by Columbus, was sailing down the coast of Brazil, where he discovered modern day Rio De Janeiro, which he named river of January as it was New Years 1501. However, as he continued passed the future site of Christ the Redeemer, and continued looking at the Brazilian Geography and slowly started to realize that the geography of the Brazilian coast was not like that of India, and it slowly dawned on him that Columbus didn’t discover a new route to India, he discovered a brand new continent. So, when he reported his findings back to Lisbon, word spread that a new continent was discovered. However, what were they going to name it? That’s when a German Cartographer decided to name the new continent after not it’s discoverer, but the person who found out it was a new world. Thus, the name America was born.

Alright, so we already know the story of how the America’s got their name, as we are told that from the first grade. However, what is less discussed is where the other continents got their names from. So, where did the continents get their names from?

Europe:

Most of the names for the continents came from Europe, so we will start with them.

In Greek mythology, Europa was a princess from Phoenicia. It was a habit of the Greeks to name locations after women, so Europa was originally the western shore of the Aegean Sea. However, the term was later expanded to incorporate the continent of Europe.

On the other hand, recent studies show that the name Europe might have derived from the Akkadian and Phoenician words for west, which are erebu and ereb respectively. This was proposed in 1966 by linguists. However, this theory is considered unlikely.

Africa:

South of Europe is the continent of Africa, which contained things that weren’t widely known to Europeans until the 19th century. However, the Europeans always knew what was on the Mediterranean Coast.

When the Romans invaded Carthage, they found a tribe of people known as the Afri. The Romans didn’t know much about Africa, so they thought the whole continent was populated by the Afri. So, they called the continent Africa Terra, of land of the Afri. Later, the Terra was dropped.

Also, Africa might have come from the Latin word Aprica, which means “Sunny”. Looking down from Rome, the Sahara desert was very very sunny.

Asia:

Asia is derived from the Greek word Ἀσία which originally meant Anatolia. Originally, it was the East Bank of the Aegean, but, like Europe, it’s definition expanded as more of Asia was discovered by the Romans and other Europeans. However, Anatolia is still often called Asia Minor.

There is a theory that the eastern bank of the Aegean was called Asis, or muddy, as it described that area of the Aegean. There is also a chance that Asia came from the Sumerian word Asu, which means East or Sunrise(In reference to the sun), which makes Asia “Eastern Land”, which is much more dignified then “Muddy land”

Australia:

After Asia, we arrive at the land down under, Australia. Now, Australia’s name was derived from the Latin term “Terra Australis” or Southern Land, as the Romans believed that there had to be a continent in the south so the Earth’s land would balance out. Now, as it turns out, there was a southern continent, but that was because of tectonic planes. Nonetheless, when James Cook discovered Australia, he named it after the only idea that there was for a southern continent, Australia.

However, there was a continent even further south at the bottom of the world.

The Arctic and Antarctica:

At the bottom of the world is Antarctica, the frozen southern continent. Now, one might expect that Antarctica had an interesting origin story for it’s name, but that is wrong. As it turns out, Antarctica is just named in Greek as the Opposite of the Arctic, or Anti Arctic, which makes Antarctic.

So where did the Arctic get it’s name? Well, it is named after Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation, which is only in the Northern Hemisphere. Now, the Greek name for the constellation is Arktos, and thus the Arctic got it’s name. Another name for the Arctic is Thule, as that was what the first Greek explorer, Pytheas of Massalia to find the Arctic called it.

So, that’s how the continents got their names.