Merica Star

[Fizard]

What is the Merica Star and is America really named after it?

[larabell]

America got its name from the explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.He was the navigator of the expedition that was the first to sight North America and the first to claim that Columbus had not encountered Asia, but a New World. His name was given to the "new World" by man named Walseemuller, who published Vespucci's accounts of the expedition. La Merica was a star that supposedly marked the place of a perfect land that the Templars could prosper in after they had been "outlawed" in Europe. Its location was noted in some scrolls they claim were discovered under Herod's tomb. The Templars, therefore, would claim that America got its name from La Merica, but then again they claim an awful lot of silly things.

[incitatus]

And as they ceased to exist before columbus sailed it didnt do them a lot of good!

[IJOSTL]

The common myth that America was named after the obscure and little known Italian Vespucci is highly unlikely. The suggestion that any of these claimants were the "first" to navigate to North America also goes against existing evidence. The star known as Merica, or as called by the French Templars "La Merica" is not only of Templar use. It may be traced back to the early Jerusalem church according to some, and still is in use by a surviving faction of that same early church. To suggest that the Templars ceased to exist after the "arrest" date of the majority of members is also a myth that is easily refuted by the fact that their entire marine fleet escaped completely the previous night flying under their war banner of the skull and crossbones. There is ample evidence to support the position that the order continued to exist in Scotland, and have been around ever since.

[MPushkin]

I doubt this obscure templar star reference was the origin of the name America. My understanding is that "America" was placed on the hemisphere by an early map maker who was referencing Americo Vespucci's exploration of the area and sort of stuck. If it was based on this arcane reference, why was the "la" dropped? A templar typo?

[ap-elydir]

The "la" was not dropped, as it was originally a name that originated with the Hebrews/Phoenicians, who intermingled a lot. "La" was used by speakers of Latin languages, because that's how their languages work.

There is evidence to suggest that the Phoenicians associated the start Merica with the American continent. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, wrote, "The Essenes believed that good souls have their habitation beyond the ocean, in a region that is neither oppressed with storms or rain or snow nor with intense heat, but refreshed by the gentle breathing of the west wind which perpetually blows from the ocean. This idyllic land across the sea to the west (or sometimes to the north) is a common belief to many cultures, from the Jews to the Greeks to the Celts. The Mandaeans, [direct descendants of the Nasoreans, who Knight and Lomas suggest were the residents of the Qumran community where the Dead Sea Scrolls came from] however, believe that the inhabitants of this far land are so pure that mortal eyes will not see them and that this place is marked by a star, the name of which is 'Merica' "

[ap-elydir]

In the above post, I accidentally wrote "start" instead of star in the first line of the second paragraph. Sorry about that.