The naming of America

Amerrique,  "the land where the wind always blows"


According to Jules Marcou, a French geographer who investigated the subject at the end of the 19th century, the word Amerrique designates the mountain range that separates Lake Nicaragua from the humid plain of the Caribbean coast. Marcou was based on A. Le Plongeon, a scholar specialized in Mayan and Central American cultures, who affirmed that the word Amerrique was of Mayan origin and meant "the land where the wind blows." In the Mayan dialects, the endings iqqe, ik and ika mean, not only "wind" but also "air", "the spirit that breathes" and "life". Therefore, Amerrique may want to say "the land where the wind blows", "the place of the spirit that breathes" and even "the living earth". Alfonso Valle reached similar conclusions. Dávila Bolaños, for his part, maintains that the name comes from Amac-rique (long mountain range). It should be noted that the Sierra de Amerrique is designated as such in numerous maps (for example in the Atlas of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in the Larousse dictionary and others), as well as in some works and bibliographic references
A reference of the president of Nicaragua In 1886, in a letter sent to Don Manuel Peralta and referred by Jules Marcou, the President of Nicaragua, Don Adan Cárdenas, affirmed that the Amerrique mountain range was inhabited by "an Indian tribe known as the Amerriques, today reduced to a small number of individuals "but that" in ancient times "this nation was" of some importance ". Cárdenas also pointed out that "these Amerrique Indians have been in communication more or less frequently with Cabo Gracias a Dios and the entire Misquita Coast" 29
The first mention of America related to Vespucci The name America, explicitly awarded as a tribute to Vespucci, appears for the first time in a publication entitled "Cosmographiae Introductio", im-prison in 1507 at the Gymnase Vosgien in the city of Saint Dié, together with the Latin translation of the famous Vespucci letters identified as "Quatour Americi Navegationes". The Gymnase Vosgien, a school and printing press located in a small town in French Lorraine, published documents about the "new lands" uncovered beyond the ocean. One of these publications was the one mentioned above. We also recall that Saint Dié is located in one of the most anti-European printing tradition zones (a short distance from the city of Strasbourg where Johann Gutenberg had developed the first printing press in 1439, barely 70 years before). The work was attributed to Martin Hylacomylus Waldseemüller (the name also appears written as Ilacomylus and Waltzemüller). In the type-graphic mark of the Waldseemüller printing press it appears as M.I. (Martin Ilacomylus). According to Jules Marcou, Waldseemüller's position was that of draftsman-cartographer, while intellectual authorship should be assigned to Jean Basin, who had also translated Vespucci's letters into Latin. The name America is mentioned in said article stating that its use is done as a homage to Américo Vespucci.
The pseudonym of Don Albérico Vespucci
The above information seems to show that the name America does not come from Albérico Vespucci. It was also pointed out that the Amerigo or Americo names were common in Florence, since they were not included in the Christian saintship which was the source of all the first names used in the Italian republics of that time. Marcou's hypothesis, which seems very logical, is that Amerigo or Americo were actually pseudonyms that had adopted (late, in Castile) Don Albérico to adjust its name to the successful name of the old continent.
(to be continued)
From the book "La Mentira del Milenio" (The Mysteries of America), D.Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones.

Europe is not the West, the West is Amerrique

The invaders came from the East

D.Anton

European invaders who arrived from the East to Amerrique they used to call themselves "Westerners". It is an old hisstory that had taken place over a millennium. When the European Roman Empire was divided into two, the Oriental half was called East and the Occidental  West. At the time, Western Europeans thought they were the Westernmost peoples of the world.

For that reason and some others too numerous to list here, Western Europeans were accustomed to call themselves "Westerners". But this was not true. Far to the west, very far away, in the direction of the setting sun, across the ocean, there were hundreds of nations as old or even older than most European countries. Europeans did not know, but in the remote and real West there was a huge friendly and prodigal continent:  Amerrique.

Even crawling on the top of the highest mountains in Haiti or Cuba it is not possible to see the Eastern shore of the Sea-Ocean. For a long time most of the people who inhabited the coasts of Amerrique were not concerned with the possible existence of other people across the sea. Probably because of that they did not think not to cross the ocean to go and find them. For many years, perhaps more than three hundred thirty three generations, Amerricans and European remain isolated to each other with little or no contact between them.

But one autumn night in the Amerrican Lucayan archipelago, the islanders perceived the appearance of three large canoes, very different from their own, from where some strange men came ashore. They wore rare costumes and their language was incomprehensible.

They finally learned that the newcomers came from a continent that was beyond the sea to the East, which they called Europe.

Amerrique is the true Western World. The continent of the eagle, the toucan and the condor. The land of avati, of the beans and cassava, the inmense continent of llamas and turkeys, home to prosperous nations and very ancient wisdom, full of powerful gods and essential spirits.. Although Europeans, and many people that are not, say that Europe is the Western World, this is not accurate. For Amerrican people, Europe is in the direction where the sun rises. The ships of the invaders came from the East. And to the Levant they took gold and riches.

The New World is not new.it Is old. It is as old as the knowledge of nature that pervades. It is a continent where a great diversity of peoples have coexisted for a long time. For centuries and millennia Amerrican women and men learned through countless experiences and the elders taught many things young people.

This ancient Western world is the Mother Earth Mother for all its peoples. It is made of infinite places and times. In its landscapes the past permeates every breeze. The youth of today should know that they live in the Land of Many Names. It is the Turtle Island, the Land-where-the-wind-blows, Abya Yala, the home of the qwani and Kurupí, the Nuke-Mapu of the peoples of South.  and once for all it is our Amerrique .

From "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

            Tempests, Gods and Devils

Danilo Anton

The invaders came from the East. They arrived in large ships and occupied the Taino, Carib, Ciboney and Guanatabey Islands. They seized lands and peoples. From the summits of her mountains, Amerrique witnessed their arrival

“Eighty-eight days had passed and the terrible storm had not left us. I did not see the sun or the stars....my vessels were taking water....the sails torn...people very ill... frequently confessing one another...” Then “The storm came back... for nine days I was lost without hope. Never had eyes beheld the sea so high, ugly and foamy... I paused on that sea turned to blood, boiling like a cauldron over a great fire. Never had the sky been so awful. One day the night burned like an oven and threw flames of lightning ... so furious and frightening that all believed the vessels would be melted...” and the fatigue was so great “... that in some the heretical idea took hold that we were under a spell”

“I am lost.... Isolated in this sorrow, ill, awaiting death every day and surrounded by a million savages, full of cruelty, and our enemies. I do not have a single hair that has not turned grey and my body is sick and worn out.... weep for me whomsoever feels charity, truth and justice.”

Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean-Sea had arrived in Amerrique, the “Land-Where-the-Wind-Blows”.

Amerrique was not only the land of the wind, she was also the Rich Coast, the Costa Rica, or as they say in a local native tongue: Huzgalpa or Huigalpa, the Country of Gold.

Columbus, Vespucci and other Europeans who arrived at her shores were attracted by the shining metal, the abundant gold, originating in the many mines o the interior.

The Admiral himself would say in his Diary of the Fourth Trip:

“The gold is excellent, treasures are made from it, whomsoever has it can do as he pleases in the world and can send souls to Paradise”.

From "The Fraud of the Millenium", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones
 Blog in Spanish:   daniloanton.blogspot.com

Amerrique, the ancient mountains have changed

D.Anton

Amerrique, the mountains, the continent

The Sierra de Amerrique has changed considerably since the times when the Amerrique people lived there.The old forests have been logged, only small patches remain on the steep slopes or in the bottom of the valleys. Cattle has taken the place of deers and jaguars and large haciendas ganaderas have replaced the ancient farming communities.

In addition, several centuries of gold mining have taken its toll. Most fluvial placer gold fields were exhausted, a large number of quarries dot the landscape and many mine shafts have punctured the ground surface.
However, there are still innumerable signs of the past if we want to see them. Some are too obvious to be ignored. Those enigmatic stone faces speaking undeciphered words, the wide diversity of ancient artefacts and tools, and specially, the descendants of the ancestral nations and their rich web of surviving oral traditions. The lineage can be perceived in their unmistakable features. In many ways, the Amerriques are still alive in present-day Nicaragua.                          
What About Now?
It is impossible to change history. America has become a melting pot of cultures and visions. Many Africans and Europeans have gradually become adapted to the new lands, and today, in large measure, they can be considered native populations in their own right. The present cultural and demographical configuration of the continent is a reality.   Similarly, the name of the continent has become an accepted word, like Africa, Asia or Australia. Any attempt to radically alter the social make up or change the designation of the land would probably be a waste of time. However, we can still do many things to exorcise the old injustices and revert the degradation. Perhaps we can start with the name of the continent itself.  
America is many things for many people, it is the land-of-the-blowing-wind, the expanse of the forests, the Mother-Earth, the spirit of the jaguar, the continent of the blue skies. 
Somehow, all these elements are embodied in the word America.  Our home. 

Adapted from the book: "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

daniloanton.blogspot.com

Amerrique, the Word

 Danilo Anton

 We can begin this work in many ways and all of them would be valid. Many are the rights and wrongs the America has suffered historically since the times of the European invasion. We could talk about the sacred and green landscapes, the respect for the generosity of Mother Earth that native people had almost everywhere. We could start talking about some of those things. However, for the mere purpose of making us understand from the beginning, sio you know that we mean, we will start referring to the word, the proper name that identifies our land: America.

In their devaluation of indigenous people of the continent the invaders and their intellectual successors have endeavored to steal or hide many things, perhaps to minimize the genocide. We will start with the name “America” which in reality should be called Amerrique or Amerrisque.

This was done through a systematic"conspiracy" of “illustrious" people who viciously devoted thousands of pages to show that in fact even the name is America ia nor American.

These “indians” are so unimportant that not even their own name deserve! According to them the name America come from a Florentine gentleman named Amerigo Vespucci, who, after his travels and with the help of several generations of writers for many years, left us among other things his own name so we could finally name ourselves ...

We had a hard time realizing this great basic fraid. However, at last, as with so many things the hard truth is reappearing unstoppable. I think it was not by chance, perhaps with help of those old spirits who witnessed so much and somehow are still here.

Whatever it is, little by little things are clearing up. The old Sierra de Amerrique, the Lenca land of the "amerricanos" Amerisque lands are coming back in force..

The underlying assumption of our work is that the name America does not come not in any way from the name of Mister Vespucci and instead arose of the heart of the great continent from ancient authentically American roots.

The word actually comes from "Amerrique" Lenca-word of a Mayan dialect which means "the place where the wind always blows" or "the place of the intense life" or better "the living Earth". The name designated (and still does) a mountainous area of ​​the present Republic of Nicaragua, now called Sierra of Chontales or Chontaleña. It should be noted that in relatively recent times the name was also used to identify a native American nation that inhabited this area: the nation of the Amerriques, related to the Lencas with Maya ethnic roots. The confusion in Europe about the characteristics of these "new lands" spread to the future use and origin of the name. In the following pages we will try to show that America is an Aboriginal name, the Florentine explorer Vespucci, who is credited with "parenting" the adjective, it was actually named Alberico and Americo was a nickname (maybe a pseudonym) that was added in later times. We will try to prove in the end, that fortunately, we can correct historic inaccuracies and apparent inconsistencies starting with the name of the land.

The central work of compilation and analysis of the issue to whom we owe most of the information ewas the French geographer Jules Marcou who in the 1880's held with solid foundations, based on own observations and information from other scholars, that the name America actually comes from an area of ​​the current Republic of Nicaragua called Amerrique Mountains or Sierra de Amerrique.

Marcou work presented his work under the suggestive name of "New research on the origin of the name America", it ​​includes data and findings of several authors as Thomas Belt, Henry H. Harrisse and Lambert and build a very plausible scenario.

According to Marcou, the word Amerrique is a Mayan (Lenca) word naming the mountain range that separates Lake Nicaragua of the humid plain of the Caribbean Coast. Marcou quotes Le Plongeon, a specialist in Mayan and Central American languages, who said that the word Amerrique meant "the land where the wind blows". He added that sometimes the “ique”, “ik” and “ika” meant not only "wind" or "air", but also "the spirit that breathes" or simply “life”. Accordingly, the word Amerrique could also mean "the place of the spirit that breathes", or perhaps "the living earth".

It is noteworthy that Amerrique appears designated as such in numerous maps, (eg in the Larousse dictionary and others), and in some studies and references. According to Thomas Belt, who was a geologist who worked in the area in the 1870s, the chain that divides the basin of Nicaragua River Blewfields river (sic; the current name is Bluefields) is called "Sierra Amerrique "or" Amerrique range". This area coincides with a number of gold deposits that the author of this work was able to visit in late 1980. According to Belt, the region of the Sierra Amerrique was formerly inhabited by a Lenca nation marginally related with the Mayan people. The president of Nicaragua, Don. Ad. Cardenas, meanwhile, in a letter sent to Don Manuel Peralta on May 22, 1886, stated that this mountain range was inhabited by "a tribe of Indians called the Amerriques, now reduced to a small number of individuals" but that it was "formerly of some importance." Mr. Cardenas added that "these Indians Amerriques have had more or less frequent communication with Cape Gracias a Dios and the entire coast of the Mosquitos" According to Belt, quoted by Marcou, the similarity between the name of the Sierra and the continent appeared to be very strange.

Moreover, it is interesting to remember that the name Vespucci was Alberico (in Italian) or Albericus (in Latin). In XVI century italian language all Americo related patronimics (including Amerigo, Americus or Americo), were not used as a derivative of Alberico. Moreover, before the publication of the map of Jean Basin in Saint-Die, none of these appellations (Amerigo, Americus, Américo) appear in any document of recognized authenticity. It appears then that Alberico Vespucci only became known as "Americo" in the decade of 1500- 1510, most likely around 1505.

What happened to Vespucci at that time that was important enough to change his name to from Alberico to Américo ? The answer to this question is probably related to something that happened after own Vespucci travels beyond the western ocean. During his first voyage, from 1497-1498, Vespucci visited the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua near Cape Gracias a Dios and then at Cape Camaron on the southern coast of Honduras. In those places, the locals had a certain amount of gold, probably from the Sierra de Amerrique. Surely, Alberico Vespucci was among the first Europeans to hear the name Amerrique referred to an area of ​​the mainland. Probably the name was also heard by the explorers Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Juan de la Cosa and Juan Díaz de Solís who visited the Nicaraguan coast in 1498. The name went to Europe with the sailors that accompanied these expeditions and its use became widespread.  

Translated from "Amerrique, los Huérfanos del Paraíso", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Why America and not  Columbia?  (First Part)

History of a little known fraud

Danilo Anton

1) Stranded in a faraway Jamaican beach

It was the year 1504. For ten months, Columbus had been stranded in a beach on the Northern shore of Jamaica, lodged in the remains of two of his ships.

Ill and abandoned, he saw the approach of death. He was frustrated since he had not been able to find the passage to the Indian Ocean, and sad because of the ungratefulness of man.

In many ways, the fourth trip of the Admiral had been a disaster.

The kings had unwillingly supported his proposal. Arduous negotiations and a long wait were necessary. When he was finally able to depart from Seville, on April the 3^rd of 1502, the fleet was composed of four vessels, many less than the 17 that had formed his armada in the Second Voyage, or the 30 ships that, in that precise moment, were ready to leave Santo Domingo, under the command of Columbus’ archi-enemy Nicolas de Ovando, to carry the colony riches to the peninsula.

He was not even allowed to stop in Santo Domingo. His attempt to enter the port, in order to avoid the imminent arrival of a threatening hurricane, was frustrated because access was denied. Some hours later, the huge storm arrived. The presumptuous armada of De Ovando was completely destroyed, while Columbus’ humble flotilla survived unscathed thanks to the skill of the Admiral.

2) Columbus arrived to Amerrique

The worst events would happen later. The expedition arrived to the mainland in Honduras quite rapidly, but the plans were thwarted as a result of several weeks of tempests and contrary winds.

The vessels were attacked by teredo worms, making navigation still more difficult. Two ships had to be abandoned in the American coast and the last two finished their days as improvised beach houses in the Jamaican shores.

At the beginning of the year, half of the crew had revolted and withdrawn to the eastern zone of the island hoping to cross to Santo Domingo. Only a few faithful remained at Columbus’ side, while his health was getting frailer every day.

More than six months had elapsed since Diego Mendez and Bartolomé Fieschi had left for Santo Domingo in two canoes with six native rowers to get help from the Spaniards of the colony. They hadn’t had any news since then.

3) Columbus mission in life had not finished yet

In spite of all the problems and frustrations, the Admiral did not want to die yet, he felt his mission in life was still unfinished.

He had found golden lands in Cariari and Veragua, and more specially, a place of great riches called Amerrique, name that he had heard two years ago in a tavern of Triana, and that a few months before he had been able to verify.

Neither the name nor the location of Amerrique was mentioned in the confidential letter that Columbus sent to the Spanish monarchs in the hands of fellow sailo Diego Mendez. At that moment of his life, the old sea wolf did not trust anybody and had preferred to omit this information until he was sure that nobody else was going to use it.

A few months later the Admiral was able to return to Spain. However, his disease became more acute and he finally died in Valladolid in 1506, carrying to the grave his well kept secrets about the new lands of America and their riches.

4) The mysticism of Christopher Columbus

The Admiral was a difficult person. He was endowed of an acute geographic instinct, a great disdain for danger, and an uncommon perseverance. He managed to take advantage of his wide maritime experience, his life in the oceanic island of Porto Santo, and the data obtained from other seamen in the ships and harbours of Europe, Africa and the Atlantic islands. His aim in life was clearly focused to beat the challenge of the unknown ocean and the new worlds, not worrying much about the risks involved.

His imaginative mind wandered through a complex religious universe, trying to relate each passage of the Bible with the new and exuberant geography discovered in his travel.

Columbus was a mystical person, with a paradoxical personality. He did not like to enjoy his wealth through hedonistic activities, but, rather he preferred the austerity of the rigorous Franciscan monasteries.

He adopted a dictatorial and cruel behaviour as an administrator of the Indias following the Portuguese and Spanish styles in their recent conquests of Africa, Canary Islands and Andalusia.

At the end of his life he became a philosopher, developing his own cosmogony. In his mind, the Earth had the shape of a pear ending in a woman nipple in the proximity of Paradise. And that Paradise, which in some way, had also been his hell, was in these new American lands that he had discovered for Christianity, and whose recognition seemed to be forbidden for some unfathomed reason of destiny.

5) Columbus, good sailor, terrible administrator

Columbus’ first trip was a great success and created wide ranging expectations across the Spanish society. In the Indias there was gold, an exuberant nature and a docile population, a willing working force for the future colonizing enterprise.

With such a favourable scenario, the Crown did not spare neither efforts nor resources to organize a second expedition. On September 25^th, 1493, only six months after the return of Columbus, an enormous fleet of 17 vessels and 1200 men left Spain, with six month provisions and all the necessary implements for war and colonization.

Two months later, when the fleet arrived to the Haitian coast, serious problems started. Fuerte Navidad, built by Columbus during the first trip had been destroyed by the natives. Forty sailors who had remained at the fort had been killed.

The reprisal operations ordered by the Admiral, as well as the exploration and occupation of the large Taina island that continued, revealed that the original expectations of huge riches were excessive. There was very little gold and the production of food was limited to the day-to-day needs of the local population.

To get the riches that did no exist, Columbus forced the Taino natives to provide gold, fabrics and food, which they were not capable to produce and supply in the volumes he was requiring.

Being forced to work excessively to get the gold and feed the numerous Spanish colony, they started dying in large numbers.

Because Columbus was not able to obtain the wealth that he had promised to the monarchs, he decided to start exporting slaves to Spain. The initiative was a fiasco. Native Tainos did not resist neither the difficult trip, nor the Spanish climate. In a few months most of them had died.

Columbus was a good sailor but he was a very bad administrator. After a few months the complaints about his disastrous leadership reached the Spanish court.

From the books "Amerrique, Orphans of Paradise"  and "The Largest Fraud in History" of Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones