In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller drew a map of the world in which there was the word "America" to refer to the western continent. The naming is named after an Italian explorer and cartographer named Amerigo Vespucci. The first documentation related to the use of the phrase "United States of America" is contained in an anonymous essay published in the Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia on April 6, 1776. In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" with capital letters in the title line of the draft Declaration of Independence. However, in the final version of the Declaration of Independence, the title was changed to "United States of America". In 1977, the Article of the Confederation officially stated: "The name of this Confederacy must be 'The United States of America'". The short form "United States" (United States) is also often used as a standard form of this country. Other common forms are "U.S.", "USA", and "America". The daily name is "U.S. of A.", and internationally it is sometimes only referred to as "the States". "Columbia," a popular word in poetry and songs in the late 1700s, was first put forward by Christopher Columbus; this word forms the basis for naming "District of Columbia". The standard designation for referring to United States citizens is "American". "United States", "American" and "U.S." also used to refer to matters relating to the United States. In English itself, the term "American" is rarely used to refer to subjects not related to the United States. Despite the fact that America is a continent and there are many other countries on the continent, the term "America" is generally used only to refer to matters relating to the United States. The phrase "United States" was originally functioned as a plural form to describe a collection of independent states, for example in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified in 1865, it read: "the United States are ...". This phrase is then generally functioned as a singular; for example, after the end of the Civil War, it was stated: "the United States is ...". This singular form has been used as a standard until now, but the plural form is still retained in the idiom "these United States". This difference is considered not as a misuse of the word, but to reflect the difference between a collection of states (states) and a sovereign state (country). In non-English languages, the naming of this country is often translated from the phrases "United States" and from "United States of America", and generally also known as "America". In addition, initials / abbreviations are sometimes used. For example, in Spanish, the general designation for "United States" is "Estados Unidos", derived from the words "states" and "united", and abbreviated as "EE.UU."; double letters indicate that this word is used as a plural in Spanish. In Indonesian, the name used is United States, derived from the phrase "United States of America", with a short form of US, and generally also referred to as "America" only.
