Before it was called America, the land now known as the United States was referred to by various names by different indigenous peoples. For example, the Native Americans had their own names for the land, such as ‘Turtle Island’ in some Native American cultures. When European explorers arrived, they often named the land after their own countries or rulers. Christopher Columbus, who arrived in 1492, called the land ‘San Salvador’ and believed he had reached the Indies. Later, the name ‘America’ was derived from the Latin version of the name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who was one of the first to suggest that the land was a new continent, not part of Asia.
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