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Different languages use different terms for citizens of the United States of America, who are known in English as "Americans". All forms of English refer to these people as "Americans", a term originally used to differentiate English people of the ''American'' colonies from English people in England〔 〕 but there is some linguistic ambiguity over this due to the other senses of the word "American", which can also refer to people from the Americas in general.〔(''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', p. 87 ). Retrieved November 28, 2008.〕 Other languages, including French, German, Japanese, and Russian, use cognates of "American" to refer to people from the United States. There are various other local and colloquial names for Americans. ==Development of the term "American"== Amerigo Vespucci first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as conjectured by Christopher Columbus, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass hitherto unknown to the peoples of the Old World. Martin Waldseemüller coined the term “America” (in honor of Vespucci) in a 1507 world map. First uses of the adjective "American" referenced European settlements in the New World. "Americans" referred to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and subsequently to European settlers and their descendants.〔 English use of the term "American" for people of European descent dates to the 17th century; the earliest recorded appearance is in Thomas Gage's ''The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies'' in 1648.〔 "American" especially applied to people in British America, and thus its use as a demonym for the United States derives by extension.〔 In ''The Wealth of Nations'', Adam Smith used the term in order to describe the whole continent, when writing about the colonization of Brazil. The United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 refers to "the thirteen States of America",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Charters of Freedom )〕 making the first formal use of the country name; the name was officially adopted by the nation's first governing constitution, the Articles of Confederation, in 1777.〔Articles of Confederation, Article 1. Available at the Library of Congress' (American Memory ).〕 The Federalist Papers of 1787–1788, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to advocate the ratification of the United States Constitution, use the word "American" in both its original, Pan-American sense, but also in its United States sense: Federalist Paper 24 refers to the "American possessions" of Britain and Spain,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Federalist no. 24 )〕 (i.e., land outside of the United States), while Federalist Papers 51〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Federalist no. 51 )〕 and 70〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=Alexander Hamilton )〕 refer to the United States as "the American republic". People from the United States increasingly referred to themselves as "Americans" through the end of the 18th century; the 1795 Treaty of Peace and Amity with the Barbary States refers to "American Citizens", and George Washington spoke to his people of "()he name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity…" in his 1796 farewell address.〔("Washington's Farewell Address 1796" ). From The Avalon Project. Retrieved November 10, 2008.〕 Eventually, this usage spread through other English-speaking countries; the unqualified noun "American" in all forms of the English language now chiefly refers to natives or citizens of the United States; other senses are generally specified with a qualifier such as "''Latin'' American" or "''North'' American."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Names for United States citizens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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