The Naming of America Operation

Hottest thing in town...operation...it sounds a little rich for what was just only a matter of finding a name, altho the christening of a country comes with unusual administrative problems you won't have in naming your child. But then, this kind of geopolitical drama happens anytime you turn a page of history—it's what makes history, come to think of it. And the procedure is always the same, regardless of complications, a new piece of land is discovered or conquered then split among so many owners, and eventually named it after one of them.
So why the fuss, might you ask—try the colonial partition of Africa, for something hot to talk about. Comparatively the discovery of America comes as a breath of fresh air; you could wrap it up in a 3-minute conversation, or a wee longer if someone's in a mood for hope.
As to the naming of America, this is so insignificant the matter never scores a mention, neither at elections time nor on the 4th of July. Nothing could be more especially insignificant, if anything.
Why do we make it such a big deal, then, is it that it represents the beginning of American history? That can't be it, obviously, the same applies to the beginning of any other country.
Might this one christening be more important than most, because of what America became and what it stands for? You could say that, except no one knew any of this 500 years ago—there wasn't even a word for Superpower, back then. You could be a great nation and a power, or a small nation and a nobody.
Nor could anyone have foreseen that the New World was to be a great nation, let alone the greatest nation on earth. For the New World, as it was still known right up to 1507 was made up of scattered islands, plus some bits of coastlines here and here, hardly what you could call a country.
Some learned men suspected that the explored territories might be connected, however even those who knew their geography very well had no idea how big a piece of cake this landmass would eventually add up to.

This, then, was the geographic reality of America in 1507, when it first walked into town with that name, officially.
It would remain known as the New World for all times to come, for all sorts of reasons. It had been called Hispaniola, West Indies and several other names, mostly Latin, the official language in those days—which made it cumbersome to remember.
America also had ancient names dating back to mythology, and even earlier than any mythology on record—which is always a good reason to brush it under the carpet and forget all about it, as soon as possible. Ancient Names of America
It took some eccentric navigator with dubious origins to bring all that forgotten history back on the map.
Columbus was not merely temperamental for being Italian, he had an obscure mentality no one could comprehend, because he was a mixture of many things.

The christening of America is just one event among so many others in a sense that anything you see on a map, big city or smalltown has been baptised at some stage or other. Any hamlet or 3-hut village has a godfather. One difference with this part of town, however is that it had more mysteries in it than all the others combined. No other place on earth has been surrounded with so much mystery all in one. America Birthplace of Legends

The Atlantic Ocean had always been the most scary place on earth, to a point that you could be a hero for venturing 50 miles into it and make it back home.
At the time of Columbus it was still called Ocean by the Greeks and Sea of Darkness by the Latins, the sea beyond which the Sun sets and life ceases to exist.
Some ancient legends scriptures speak of a land beyond the Great Dark Lake, where the Sun dies. Others mention it as a non-physical place, a Land of the Spirit. But all make it the most dreaded place on earth.
America was also known as the Land of the Blessed, for other reasons to be explained in the longer version of this text, which will blow your skirts off.

For so many reasons, this one christening party probably was a much bigger event than has been supposed since. At any rate, it was exceptionally different, as opposed to a dime a dozen episode in world history.
Not to mention that a baby as large as the Atlantic Ocean itself had never turned up in the maternity ward.

See you next time...

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