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PrzemysławŁukasikandMaikArnold
weresupposedtosailtoIndia.Itissaidthat,untilhisdeathin1506,
theGenoabornexplorerColumbusthoughthehaddiscoveredislands
andlandswhichbelongedtotheEasternpartsofIndia.Instead,acon-
temporaryFlorentineexplorer,AmerigoVespucci,ascertainedthatit
wasacompletelynewland,aterraincognita.DiscoveredbyChristo-
pherColumbus,the4NewWorld’wasnotcalledColumbia,butinstead
America.Europeplayedaveryimportantroleinthisprocessofbirth
(EuropeasaGeburtshelfer).MartinWaldseemüllerandMatthiasRing-
mann,bothGermancartographers,arecreditedwiththefirstrecorded
usageoftheword4America’ontheirmapUniversalisCosmographia
from1507inhonoroftheAmerigoVespucci:abAmericoInventore
...quasiAmericiterramsineAmericam[fromAmerigothediscoverer
...asifitwerethelandofAmericans,thusAmerica](O’Gorman1999).
Incontrasttothiswell-knownnarrative,EdmundoO’Gorman
insteadassertedthatAmericawasnotdiscovered,butinvented(Kat-
zensteinandKeohane2007:39).Fromtheverybeginning,theimageof
Americawasmadeofrumors,excuses,andstereotypicalexpectations.
SometimesasharpcontrastbetweenEuropeanimagesoftheNewWorld
andtherealitiesofAmericaledtooverestimationsorunderestimations.
ForAmericans,ithasbeencertainthattheso-calledAmericanexpe-
rimentcannotfailandthatitwouldbeimmunetothe4sins’oftheold
Europeancontinent.The4NewArcadia’wassupposedtobetheland
inwhichseedsofreligious,social,andpoliticalfreedomwouldgrow
withoutanyobstacles(cf.Osiatyński1983).AsAmericanspredicted
withoptimism,the“OasisofdemocracyinthemidstofSaharadesert
ofabsolutism”(Bailey1969:57)wouldflourishasamodelandexam-
ple.ConservativecirclesofEuropeanthinkersdidnotsharethisgreat
hopeforanewbeginningofmankindinAmerica.Americaasaland
withoutcommonculture,history,andhabits,hadbeenregardedas
atreewithoutlongroots.Catastropheswereinevitableandeventually
occurred.ConservativecriticsoftheNewWorldwantedtoseeAmerica
asanabstractiveconstructionbuiltuponrationalismandmaterialism,
butwithoutnationalexceptionandtradition.Americawaspresented
asabrokenmirrorthroughtheimagesoftheFrenchRevolution,with
abstractvaluesoffreedom,brotherhood,theJacobindictatorship,and
thetyrannyofNapoleon.ThisbrokenmirrorimageofAmericawas
