Ode to a Seductive Urban Legend

Does anyone remember the idea floating around a while back that the origin of the name America was not the explorer Amerigo as most believe, but from a Peruvian word?
The idea didn’t really pan out. But it was a romantic and interesting one to be sure. I am here to write that it is valid to remember what the natives called their land, and to note the interesting coincidence of it all.

First of all let’s explore the accepted etymology from wikipedia:
“The name America was coined by Martin Waldseemüller from Americus Vespucius, the Latinized version of the name of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512), the Italian explorer who mapped South America’s east coast and the Caribbean Sea in the early 16th century. Later, Vespucci’s published letters were the basis of Waldseemüller’s 1507 map, which is the first usage of America. The adjective American subsequently denoted the New World. “

Another fact: The natives of Peru called their land Amaruca. The Amaru tribe still exists today.

History is written by the winners. One school of thought is to simply follow the winners throughout history and ignore the losers and oppressed. While that approach is certainly easier, I personally think that’s not getting the whole picture.

The alternative theory went, that it came from the word Amaruca, “Land of the Plumed Serpents” (winged serpents, aka the caduceus, symbol of medicine, money, drugs, and kundalini).

The chief god of the Maya in Central America is Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent that looked like the crawling morning glory vine that provided a psychedelic sacarament in the form of LSA. In Peru, this god is called Amaru (as in Tupac Amaru, the last defender killed by the Spaniards) and the territory known as Amaruca. Amaruca is literally translated “Land of the Plumed Serpents.” The tribe of Amaru still exists in Peru today.

The painting above was created by Timothy Wyllie for the “Harmonic Convergence of August 1987 [which] celebrated the ending of the period of seven hells and the start of the time of thirteen heavens of Mayan astrology. The Spirit of Quetzalcoatl overlit us at the Sacred Circle in New York’s Central Park for the ceremony.” It can be purchased here.

What is undeniable from the native perspective is that families were in “Amaruca” watching their very own LSA/ayahuasca inspired Simpsons way before the Europeans landed with their communicable diseases spawned from generations living in close proximity to domesticated animals.

Without these diseases the Europeans would not have been able to conquer most of the Amarucas – as in Thailand, the European powers would have made deals with existing monarchies. The natives would have been able to keep most of themselves alive and we would have a modern psychedelic society, unlike one driven by Europe, were no psychedelics fluorished besides the very harsh ones such as belladonna and mandrake.

And finally, even if the idea is bogus from a pure Western European perspective (it is pretty much an open and shut case), from a purely native perspective, ~90% of whom got wiped out and are now just memories – for those who called and call their land Amaruca, this idea is most certainly is valid.

They lived in what they called Amaruca, and it is a very interesting coincidence that it is similar to what the invaders called America.

We should appreciate that.

Gods bless Amaruca!

This page is dedicated to Alex Maniscalo, without whom this article would not exist. Original article appeared in 2005 and is archived here