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Continental Conceptions
Author(s) -
Mapp Paul
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/1478-0542.007
Subject(s) - globe , landfall , history , phrase , western hemisphere , northern hemisphere , geography , western europe , geology , psychology , climatology , meteorology , ethnology , computer science , artificial intelligence , international trade , tropical cyclone , neuroscience , european union , business
They look solid enough on a modern globe, but continents turn out to be rather mercurial. It's more than a matter of plate tectonics, and North America is no exception. For more than three centuries after Columbus’ famous landfall, large parts of the North American continent remained unseen and uncharted by Europeans. 1 Consequently, the western portions of maps of North America remained fluid, changing with new reports from explorers and with new fashions in cartography. Moreover, as new accounts reached, and new ideas gripped them, European savants considered and reconsidered how best to denominate and classify the vast lands of the western hemisphere. A complicated story lies behind the commonplace phrase ‘North America’.