# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/richard-amerike
# Generated: 2026-08-14T04:35:49.250Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/richard-amerike"
name: "Richard Amerike"
slug: "richard-amerike"
description: "Richard ap Meryk, anglicised to Richard Amerike was an English merchant, royal customs officer and later, sheriff of Bristol. Several claims have been made for Amerike by popular writers of the late twentieth century. One was that he was the major funder of the voyage of exploration launched from Bristol by the Venetian John Cabot in 1497, and that Amerike was the owner of Cabot's ship, the Matthew. The other claim revived a theory first proposed in 1908 by a Bristolian scholar and amateur historian, Alfred Hudd. Hudd's theory, greatly elaborated by later writers, suggested that the continental name America was derived from Amerike's surname in gratitude for his sponsorship of Cabot's successful discovery expedition to 'the new World'. However, neither claim is backed up by hard evidence, and the consensus view is that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer."
tagline: "Merchant and sheriff"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Richard_Ap_Meryk_name_variants.jpg/330px-Richard_Ap_Meryk_name_variants.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "1440"
deathDate: "1503"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           45.41
  momentum:             0
  historical:           8.572717333333333
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     54.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  50
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D1%96%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4_%D0%90%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA"
    title: "Річард Америк"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83"
    title: "ريتشارد اميريك"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike"
    title: "Richard Amerike"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_ap_Meurig"
    title: "Richard ap Meurig"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike"
    title: "Richard Amerike"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ap_Meryk"
    title: "Richard Ap Meryk"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike"
    title: "Richard Amerike"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%B1%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%9A%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%BE%E0%B5%BC%E0%B4%A1%E0%B5%8D_%E0%B4%85%E0%B4%AE%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%86"
    title: "റിച്ചാർഡ് അമേരിക്കെ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike"
    title: "Richard Amerike"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%2C_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4"
    title: "Америк, Ричард"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q633039"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump