That's excruciating, Malc - bravo!
Interestingly, most people assume America got it's name from Amerigo Vespucci, but this is not the case. Had this been the case, we would have had a 'special relationship' with Vespuccia today, since always new lands were named after a surname and never a forename.
America was actually named after the chief patron of John Cabot's voyage (Cabot was Italian, real name Giovanni Caboto), a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant, Richard Ameryk.
Columbus actually thought the world was pear-shaped and a quarter of its actual size. The closest he came to setting foot on America's mainland was the Bahamas, and he made his crew swear an oath that, if asked, they would say they had reached India. No-one is absolutely certain of his nationality - the main evidence points to him being the son of a Genoese weaver, but there are also reasonable claims he may have been Sephardic Jewish, Spanish, Corsican, Portuguese, Catalan or Greek. He preferred to be known as either Columbo or Colon.
