<p>Before that, the name apparently stuck from Mateo Ricci's (Li Zhizao and Zhang Wentao) map. As you can see on the <a href="https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/riccimap#viewer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">map</a>, first name tagging was purely phonetical, drawing from "America", which in turn was taken from Americo Vespuccio instead of from Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón, whose name as discoverer of the continent was used to name a single country only: Colombia) for diverse reasons, including the "Black Legend" that other colonial powers spread against Spain's preponderance at the time.
Noticeably enough, Spain's name was also different in Jesuit Mateo Ricci's map, being read "XiBaNiYa" (西把你亞) instead of current "XiBanYa" (西班牙), with a character ('亞') other than the "tooth" ch. ('牙'), but homophonous, apparently to indicate its southern location and homeland character.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-17T11:18:13.693Z
2017-11-24T10:43:33.917Z
2017-11-24T10:43:33.917Z
Alfonso F R
<p>The beginnings of Sino-American relations date back to the late 18th century (e.g. the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_China_Trade">Old China Trade</a>). When did the Chinese begin to refer to America (or the US) as 美國/美国? Were there alternative names referring to America/US?</p>

<etymology><place-names>
What is the first attested use of 美國/美国 in the sense of 'America' in Chinese?
# What is the first attested use of 美國/美国 in the sense of 'America' in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-12)

The beginnings of Sino-American relations date back to the late 18th century (e.g. the [Old China Trade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_China_Trade)). When did the Chinese begin to refer to America (or the US) as 美國/美国? Were there alternative names referring to America/US?

**Tags:** etymology, place-names


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-04-17. Score: 1

Before that, the name apparently stuck from Mateo Ricci's (Li Zhizao and Zhang Wentao) map. As you can see on the [map](https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/riccimap#viewer), first name tagging was purely phonetical, drawing from "America", which in turn was taken from Americo Vespuccio instead of from Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón, whose name as discoverer of the continent was used to name a single country only: Colombia) for diverse reasons, including the "Black Legend" that other colonial powers spread against Spain's preponderance at the time.
Noticeably enough, Spain's name was also different in Jesuit Mateo Ricci's map, being read "XiBaNiYa" (西把你亞) instead of current "XiBanYa" (西班牙), with a character ('亞') other than the "tooth" ch. ('牙'), but homophonous, apparently to indicate its southern location and homeland character.


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