Talk:Americas

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Americas (inactive)

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North America Top‑importance

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South America Top‑importance

	Latin America portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject South America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to South America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.South AmericaWikipedia:WikiProject South AmericaTemplate:WikiProject South AmericaSouth America
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Central America

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Geography High‑importance

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This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (center, color, defense, realize, traveled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Leif Erikson was NOT the first!

"The first known European settlement in the Americas was by the Norse explorer Leif Erikson."
This is obvious nonsense! There were already Viking settlements in North America, well before Leif travelled to Vinland, settled by Leif Erikson's father!
Indeed, Leif spent much of his childhood, living in said North America colony! (which remained for about 400 years)
...and to anyone who would be tempted to claim that Greenland shouldn't count, for whatever inexplicable reason:
What about the West Indies, then? ~2026-10511-3 (talk) 06:16, 6 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@~2026-10511-3 It was also not stated in the source. I've reworked those two sentences. CMD (talk) 09:20, 6 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

It's just America

This entry should just be called "America". That is the name of the entire continent (with two subcontinents, North America and South America). There is no such thing as "The Americas", there's only one continent of America. Dglacier (talk) 00:04, 17 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

"Americas vs America: When To Use Each One In Writing". The Content Authority. 4 Sep 2023. Retrieved 17 Feb 2026.

Moxy🍁 00:12, 17 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

yeah, but that's just .. in America (United States). The rest of the world knows that America is the whole continent. ~2026-10773-84 (talk) 02:15, 18 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

No. Australian here. I know that what you say may be true in the Spanish language in the lands south of the USA, but in the English speaking world, America is a short name for the United States of America, while North America and South America are the names of two relevant continents. HiLo48 (talk) 02:38, 18 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I said that lol. BUT no one says The Americas ~2026-10773-84 (talk) 00:29, 20 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Yes they do. Just Google it. You'll get plenty of hits. HiLo48 (talk) 01:54, 20 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Anecdotal evidence is not a reason to change an article. As a reminder, this is not a forum for general discussion. Tbhotch^™ (CC BY-SA 4.0) 00:35, 20 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Just facts. ~2026-10773-84 (talk) 00:42, 20 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The use of American as short for US American is wrong, since it strips the right of belonging from other countries.

Fact America is one continent, and everyone in it is American, from Canada to Chile

https://americanaejournal.hu/index.php/americanaejournal/article/view/45156/43807 Darkefra~enwiki (talk) 00:55, 13 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Quoted verbatim from WP:TITLECHANGES,

"The choice of title is not dependent on whether a name is "right" in a moral or political sense" ~2026-29230-50 (talk) 00:48, 16 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Guys, this has been discussed to death. Please consult the archives of this page. Deor (talk) 00:57, 20 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Totally agree. The vast majority of the continent call it America in singular.

Who defines what is called? Darkefra~enwiki (talk) 00:26, 13 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 17 March 2026

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

The term "Americas" is used colloquially, particularly by US american citizens, and does not constitute a formally recognized scientific designation. The historically documented and scientifically grounded name is "America," a toponym established in 1507 by the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. The designations North America, Central America, and South America correspond to major geographic divisions of the continent. In this context, North America and South America are commonly classified as subcontinents. Msc-cdrb (talk) 16:21, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Not done. It's not clear what changes you want to make. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 16:50, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Agree

Change the article to America and America as disambiguation perhaps. Darkefra~enwiki (talk) 00:59, 13 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification about the name

it says > sometimes called America

Change to

Called America by Latin Americans, where it is seen as one single continent.

I think it should be more clear that most the inhabitants call it America.

Here you can read more about it

https://americanaejournal.hu/index.php/americanaejournal/article/view/45156/43807 Darkefra~enwiki (talk) 00:40, 13 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

But that is Spanish or Portuguese usage, not English usage. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 14:17, 27 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

And it's covered in the "Terminology" section. Deor (talk) 16:43, 27 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This is why in the Spanish Wikipedia page for the article uses "América".

However, the vast, vast majority of the English-speaking world primarily uses "America" to refer to the United States outside of poetic or certain historical contexts.

This is for a few reasons, not least of which the fact that English-speaking countries don't use the 6-continent model that many Hispanic countries do, understanding Panama and above as the continent of North America and Colombia and below as the continent of South America, collectively referred to as "the Americas". ~2026-29230-50 (talk) 00:41, 16 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

"🌎" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect 🌎 to the article Western Hemisphere has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 June 24 § 🌎 until a consensus is reached. Mathguy2718 (talk) 22:45, 24 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]