When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they were impressed by this unique big bird. Montezuma's ambassadors presented Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortez with six gold turkeys upon his arrival in 1519, the first record of the turkey in the history of art.

Spanish explorers shipped turkeys back to Spain. The birds soon became commonplace in the barnyards of England, France, and Italy as well. A gold turkey decorated with precious stones served as a salt holder on the table of England's Queen Elizabeth I.

There are numerous explanations of how the turkey got its name. Some think the word turkey comes from firkee, an American Indian name for the bird. Some think it comes from the bird's call - turk, turk, turk. Another theory is that Christopher Columbus thought the New World was connected to India, so he named the bird tuka, which means "peacock" in the Tamil language. In another scenario, the English may mistakenly have thought that the Spanish got the birds from the Turks.