 The continents of North and South America (also sometimes deemed as a single continent, America, especially by many postcolonial Spanish-speaking countries) are thought to be named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (who styled himself "Americus Vespucius" in Latin).Amerigo Vespucci was named after Saint Emeric of Hungary.Vespucci, following his four voyages exploring the coastlines of Venezuela and Brazil, first developed the idea that the newly discovered western land was in fact a continent.