It's not "the Americas," it's Abya Yala.
Abya Yala (from the Guna language: 'Abiayala', meaning 'mature land') is used by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas to refer to the Americas. The term is used by some indigenous organisations, institutions, and movements as a symbol of identity and respect for the land one inhabits. The increasing usage of the term can be viewed in the context of decolonization, as it serves to create an understanding that "land and discourse, territorio y palabra, cannot be disjointed" and a geography in which a struggle for sovereignty and resistance occurs on an everyday basis for Indigenous communities.
The name, which translates to 'land in its full maturity', 'land of lifeblood", or 'noble land that welcomes all' originates from the Guna people who once inhabited a region spanning from the northern coast of Colombia to the Darién Gap, and now live on the Caribbean coast of Panama, in the Comarca of Guna Yala. The term is Pre-Columbian.
