facts about amerigo vespucci voyage

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Amerigo Vespucci

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 6, 2024 | Original: July 31, 2023

Amerigo Vespucci was a 16th-century Italian merchant and explorer remembered not only for his voyages that altered the course of history but for bestowing the New World with the name “America.”

Vespucci’s mapping of coastlines and constellations, cultural observations and identification of equatorial ocean currents led to the realization that his travels had taken him to a new continent, challenging the previously held belief that Christopher Columbus had reached the uncharted eastern edge of Asia.

Early Life and Education

Born March 9, 1454, in Florence, Italy, during the height of the Renaissance , Vespucci came from a prominent family with ties to the Medici dynasty . His father, a government notary, and his uncle, respected humanist Dominican friar Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, played influential roles in his education. Immersed in a world of trade and maritime culture from a young age, Vespucci developed interests and aptitude in astronomy, math, navigation and foreign languages. 

Early in his career, Vespucci worked for the Medici family as a banker and later supervised ship operations in Seville, Spain. Accounts vary, but many believe that Vespucci met Christopher Columbus in Seville in 1496, after Columbus’s historic 1492 voyage, and assisted Columbus in preparing for future expeditions.

Did you know? Thefirst use of the name "America" was in 1507, when a new world map was created based on the explorations of Amerigo Vespucci.

Vespucci's Voyages

Fueled by his own passion for discovery, Vespucci joined a Spanish expedition while in his 40s, serving as an astronomer and mapmaker in search of a passage to India. Led by Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda, they set sail from Cadiz, Spain, in May 1499 and reached the northeastern coast of South America.

Despite their belief that they had arrived in Asia, Ojeda explored the coast of Venezuela while Vespucci ventured south to coastal Brazil. During the voyage, Vespucci charted the constellations, noting their differences from those seen in Europe. He also documented the diverse flora and fauna, made extensive observations about the indigenous tribes he encountered and described what he thought was the Ganges River, but is now known to be the mouth of the Amazon River . 

In a letter recounting the journey, he wrote of discovering “an infinite number of birds or various forms and colors and trees so beautiful and fragrant that we thought we had entered the earthly Paradise.” 

In May 1501, Vespucci embarked on another voyage, this time under the patronage of King Manuel I of Portugal , again seeking passage to India. Sailing along the Brazilian and Argentinian coasts, Vespucci ventured further south to present-day Rio de Janeiro and the La Plata River. Once again, he observed unfamiliar constellations, unexplained equatorial currents and an absence of the riches he expected to find in India. Realizing that he was not in India or on an undiscovered island but on a separate continent across the Atlantic Ocean, he dubbed the land Mundus Novus, or the New World.

There are varying accounts and unconfirmed reports of Vespucci undertaking a third voyage to the New World in 1503, also in the name of Portugal. 

Although Vespucci’s discoveries were not considered highly significant at the time, the publication of his correspondence with friends and colleagues chronicling his voyages, known as the “Vespucci Letters,” played a pivotal role in dispelling the belief that Columbus had reached Asia. The letters brought Vespucci fame (although some believe the letters are fake).

Vespucci's Namesake and Reputation

The term “America” first took shape in 1507, when German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller drew a map of the newly recognized continent and labeled it “Americus” in Vespucci’s honor. This map, often referred to as “America’s birth certificate,” marked the usage of the name “America.”

Vespucci, who became a naturalized citizen of Spain in 1505, was given the prestigious title of master navigator of Spain in 1508. Charged with training and recruiting navigators and managing the country’s map collections, he held the position until he died of malaria in Seville on February 22, 1512, at the age of 58.

“The Map That Named America,” U.S. Library of Congress “Amerigo Vespucci,” by Frederick A.Ober “Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer who named America,” LiveScience “ Amerigo Vespucci,” T he Martimers’ Museum and Park

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Amerigo Vespucci Facts

Written by Tadashi

Modified & Updated: 28 May 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

• Exploration Facts
• Geography Facts
• Maritime History Facts

Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, and later shared his name with Colombia and Columbia. But Columbus only reached a few islands in the Caribbean, while Vespucci actually reached the American mainland . In 1499, he became the first European to reach the Northern part of South America, a year before Columbus, who until then had only visited islands. Out of all the Amerigo Vespucci facts you’ll find, this is one not a lot of people know about. But it is absolutely true!

Amerigo accomplished other great things, too. On March 22, 1508, King Ferdinand of Spain gave him the job of Pilot Major, or chief navigator of Spain . As the pilot major, Amerigo set up a navigation school where he standardized and taught navigation techniques . He did this until his death in 1512.

Amerigo is regarded by many to be a pioneer of Atlantic exploration, particularly because his travel literature regarding the New World was instrumental in furthering geographic discovery. Numerous explorers benefited from the numerous things Amerigo discovered. Let us learn more about the man who shares his name with the New World with these 40 Amerigo Vespucci facts.

• Historians don’t actually know how many trips Vespucci made to the Americas.
• Vespucci raided the Bahamas at least once for slaves and returned to Spain with 232 captives.
• The Spanish Crown paid Vespucci 50,000 maravedis, equivalent to $200,000 today, every year for his services.
• He also received an additional 25,000 maravedis for business expenses.
• After his death, his wife received an annual pension of 10,000 maravedis in his honor.
• Vespucci originally came from the city of Florence in Italy.
• In his youth, he received a Renaissance education in various fields including astronomy, geography, Latin, literature, rhetoric, and philosophy.
• Vespucci spent time in the Court of King Louis XI of France.
• Vespucci later moved to Spain in 1492, for reasons still unclear to historians.
• He made his first voyage to the Americas in 1497.
• Amerigo made his last voyage to the Americas in 1505.
• King Ferdinand II of Spain made him a Spanish citizen on his return from the Americas.
• Vespucci then took on the responsibility of training Spanish ship pilots.
• He also had the responsibility of granting licenses for anyone sailing to the Americas.
• Vespucci died on February 22, 1512, leaving his properties to his wife and nephew.
• Vespucci’s family wasn’t rich, but they had connections with the powerful Medici family of Florence.
• Amerigo shared his name with his grandfather, who served as Chancellor of the Republic of Florence.
• His older brother Girolamo also joined the Knights Templar.
• In his youth, Amerigo Vespucci worked as a business manager for the Medici family.
• He later married Maria Cerezo, the daughter of Spain’s Grand Captain, Gonzalo de Córdoba.

Vespucci gave his name to the Americas.

Well, he didn’t actually name it after himself, but he did become the first person to call the Western Hemisphere, the New World. Matthias Ringmann and Martin Waldseemuller first used Amerigo Vespucci’s name as that of the New World’s in 1507.

They did on the basis that Vespucci’s published letters about his voyages to the New World had confirmed it as the Antipodes theorized to exist since Greco-Roman times. As such, Ringmann and Waldseemuller thought it only fitting that Vespucci’s name would go down in history as that of the New World. The trend stuck, eventually becoming permanent in the 1530s, with famous mapmaker Gerardus Mercator marking the New World as North and South America on his maps.

In his youth, Vespucci traveled all over Europe.

Like we mentioned earlier, he once spent time at the Court of King Louis XI of France . He did so as part of his cousin Guido Vespucci’s staff, with Guido leading a diplomatic mission to gain French support for Florence against Naples. Amerigo Vespucci’s role in his cousin’s staff remains unclear to historians, but evidence exists pointing to him serving as a secretary for his cousin. Along the way, they passed through the Italian cities of Bologna and Milan, and the French city of Lyons. Despite Guido’s best efforts, though, they returned to Florence in 1481 having failed in their mission.

Vespucci had a connection to Columbus’ voyages to the New World.

At the time, he worked for the Florentine merchant Gianotto Berardi, whose business involved the African slave trade as well as supplying and equipping ships. Berardi invested an estimated 500,000 maravedis in Columbus’ expeditions, equivalent to around $4 million today. Berardi died in 1495, with Vespucci as the designated executor for his will.

Vespucci later carried on Berardi’s business supplying and equipping ships headed to and from the West Indies, as Columbus called his discoveries. However, profits proved far less than what Columbus promised, with Vespucci at one point owing 140,000 maravedis, or $560,000 today, to creditors.

Early modern historians questioned the authenticity of Vespucci’s claims.

This primarily came from the fact that all proof of his claimed part in expeditions to the New World comes from 4 letters published between 1500 and 1505. The explorer Sebastian Cabot in 1515 publicly doubted Vespucci even traveled overseas, at all. Later on, during the 16th century, the Dominican friar and scholar Bartolomé de las Casas also called Vespucci a liar who had stolen the honor due to Columbus. This trend continued over the following centuries and peaked in 1856. In that year, the American writer Ralph Emerson again called Vespucci a liar who had tricked the world into giving his name to two continents.

Vespucci may have exaggerated his role in his early expeditions to the Americas.

In particular, historians focus on how Vespucci claimed to have a leading role in his expeditions from 1497 to 1498. He also made a similar claim during his expedition from 1499 to 1500. Given Vespucci’s lack of experience in long-distance travel by sea at the time, historians think it very unlikely he had a leading role in the expeditions. Instead, they argue that in both trips he merely served as the official representative for the expeditions’ investors. That said, the commander of the 1499 Expedition, Alonso de Ojeda, did record in his journals that Vespucci served as a pilot for his ship while at sea.

Vespucci held a place in Goncalo Coelho’s 1501 Expedition to the Americas.

King Manuel I of Portugal commissioned the expedition to resolve the question of claims as per the Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty had divided discoveries between Spain and Portugal according to a line set by Pope Julius II as 2000 km west of the Cape Verde Islands. Any discoveries east of the line would belong to Portugal, while those west of the line would belong to Spain.

Vespucci served as both a pilot and navigator for the expedition, which explored the east coast of modern Brazil . This expedition would see them discover where Rio de Janeiro now stands. They also had an encounter where natives attacked and ate one of their crew.

Inconsistencies do exist in Vespucci’s letters.

Aside from his exaggerated role which we’ve mentioned, Vespucci’s records of astronomical observations and long distances traveled get confusingly contradictory at times. For example, he once recorded traveling a distance of nearly 5000 kilometers northwest of Honduras during the 1497 Expedition. However, they couldn’t have traveled that distance, as it would have taken them straight through Mexico and into the Pacific Ocean .

He also made another inconsistency during the 1501 Expedition, too. Specifically, he claimed they turned back to Europe after reaching the latitude 32 degrees south. However, cross-referencing other sources on the expedition actually places them turning back around 25 degrees south.

Modern historians still argue over the authenticity of Vespucci’s claims.

Most agree that Vespucci definitely took part in the 1499 and 1501 Expeditions, thanks to testimony from other sources. However, his membership in the 1497 and the 1503 Expeditions remains in question. The 1503 Expedition especially stands out, as no other sources apart from Vespucci testify to his membership in the expedition. This has led some modern historians to agree that Vespucci may not actually have written the letters as published. Instead, the published versions, while based on letters that Vespucci actually wrote, had gone through editing and exaggerations during publishing.

Vespucci’s writings popularized the concept of the New World in Europe.

Whether or not he really did do everything his letters claim he did, historians generally agree that Vespucci had a major role in the Age of Exploration. Columbus might have led the way, but it took Vespucci to capture the imagination of Europe about the New World.

Vespucci’s wife held a great deal of influence with her husband.

For one thing, her connection as the daughter of Gonzalo de Córdoba gave Vespucci a great deal of influence to work with in Spain. She also actively took part in her husband’s business, so much so that he trusted her with the power of attorney, while he went on his overseas expeditions.

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Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer who named America

Amerigo Vespucci was a 16th century navigator, after whom the American continents are named.

• First voyage
• 1501 voyage and South America
• Later voyages
• Naming of America

Additional resources

Bibliography.

Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci is best known for his namesake: the continents of North and South America. But why were these continents named after him, especially since his voyages happened after Christopher Columbus arrived on the continent, in 1492? 

Vespucci was the first person to recognize North and South America as distinct continents that were previously unknown to Europeans, Asians and Africans, according to Avihu Zakai (" Exile and Kingdom: History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America ", Cambridge University Press, 2002). Prior to Vespucci's discovery, explorers, including Columbus, had assumed that the New World was part of Asia. Vespucci made his discovery while sailing near the tip of South America in 1501, according to The New World Encyclopaedia .

Amerigo Vespucci was one of many European explorers during the Age of Exploration, or Age of Discovery, which took place from the mid-1400s to mid-1500s. "The Age of Exploration was prompted by different motivations," said Erika Cosme , administrative coordinator of education and digital services at The Mariner’s Museum and Park in Virginia. "In the 15th century, Europe, Asia, and Africa were at the epicenter of a global exchange of goods; also, for Europeans, curiosities of different cultures continued to emerge. This Afro-Eurasian economy created an interwoven connection between India, China , the Middle East, Africa and Europe."

Spurred by curiosity and economic incentive, explorers traveled distances that were great feats for their day. But what makes the time period so important, said Cosme, was the role it played in "shaping the world that we know today." Recognizing the Americas was a major part of that understanding. 

Amerigo Vespucci was born on March 9, 1454, in Florence. As a young man, he was fascinated with books and maps, according to the Mariners Museum . The Vespuccis were a prominent family and friends with the powerful Medicis , a family who ruled Italy for more than 300 years and were prominent during the Renaissance . After being educated by his uncle, Vespucci himself worked for the Medicis as a banker and later supervisor of their ship-outfitting business, which operated in Seville, Spain. He moved to Spain in 1492, according to Biography.com

This business allowed Vespucci to see the great explorers' ships being prepared and to learn about the business of exploration. Goods like salt from Mali, coffee beans from Ethiopia, spices from India and the Molucca Islands and ginger, silk and tea from China were in high demand, said Cosme, who works in developing The Mariners' Museum's extensive Age of Exploration area.

Countries profited off trade and hoped to find riches like gold, silver and gems, Cosme explained . "European leaders saw exploration as a way to expand their empires and increase national glory."

At the time, explorers were searching for a northwest route to the Indies — the lands and islands of Southeast Asia — which would make trade easier and bring their country wealth, according to Britannica . "It would often take years to complete a trip," said Cosme. "By the mid-15th century, Muslims controlled the majority of the trade routes to Asia. This meant they could charge high prices for incoming and outgoing goods and vessels traveling to and from Europe and Asia. The desire to find ocean routes that were faster, safer, and cheaper stimulated a search to find a better way of getting to these places."

Vespucci's business helped outfit one of Columbus's voyages, and in 1496 Vespucci had the opportunity to talk with the explorer. Both men were fascinated by the works of Marco Polo , who influenced many explorers' love of seafaring and exploration, said Cosme. 

This meeting further encouraged Vespucci's interest in travel and discovery. Like many explorers of the age, he wanted to gain new knowledge and see the world with his own eyes. "The Age of Exploration coincided with the Renaissance, which lasted from about 1300 to 1600," said Cosme. "Many people were gaining genuine curiosity about the world. Sciences like astronomy and cartography were surging. People wanted to know more about the geography, people, and cultures outside their own."

Vespucci's business was struggling, which made his decision to voyage even simpler. Furthermore, he possessed critical knowledge for seafaring, like cartography and astronomy, which were essential tools for early navigation, said Cosme. Now in his 40s, Vespucci decided to leave business behind and embark on a journey while he still could.

First voyage and letter controversy

"Amerigo Vespucci took at least three voyages westward," said Cosme. There is some controversy among historians about when Vespucci set sail on his first voyage. Many accounts place the sail date in 1499, seven years after Columbus landed in the Bahamas. On the 1499 voyage, Vespucci sailed to the northern part of South America and into the Amazon River . He gave places he saw names like the "Gulf of Ganges," thinking, as his explorer contemporaries did, that he was in Asia. He also made improvements to celestial navigation techniques. Vespucci predicted Earth’s circumference accurately within 50 miles, according to Springer .

But a letter dated in 1497 suggests that the 1499 voyage may have in fact been Vespucci's second trip, according to Fordham University . The letter is written in Vespucci's voice, though some historians dispute his authorship and the facts of the document, claiming it a forgery. The letter, written to the Gonfalonier of Florence (a high official on the city-state's supreme executive council), accounts a 1497 expedition to the Bahamas and Central America. If the accounts of this letter are true, then Vespucci reached the mainland of the Americas a few months before John Cabot and more than a year before Columbus.

1501 voyage and recognition of South America

On May 14, 1501, Vespucci set sail to the New World under the Portuguese flag on what would be his most successful voyage, according to Edward Shaw (" Discoverers and Explorers , " Weitsuechtig, 1900.)

Vespucci's ships traveled along the South American coast down to Patagonia, according to The New World Encyclopaedia . Along the way, he encountered the rivers Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. During this voyage, Vespucci came to suspect that he was looking at a continent entirely different from Asia. 

"Vespucci was both familiar with and fascinated by the accounts of Marco Polo and his time in Asia. The book by Polo gave great detail on the geography, people, and rich opportunities of the continent. Based on this information, Vespucci could make assumptions about the land they were exploring," Cosme said. 

"For starters, Vespucci noticed that the sky which they sailed under had different constellations that were not visible in Europe," Cosme said. "He also took note of the coastlines they traveled, recording their distance and length of time traveled. Vespucci, again a very skilled cartographer and astronomer, carefully studied and pondered over all of his information. 

"He found that the areas and land masses they had explored were actually larger and different than previous accounts of Asia's descriptions. This led him to the conclusion that what they had explored was indeed an entirely new continent."

Who discovered America? Christopher Columbus: A Brief Biography Top 10 Intrepid Explorers

He verified his suspicion when sailing south to within 400 miles of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, according to an article by Wired . This confirmed that he was encountering a new continent that extended far further south than anyone had guessed.

While on this voyage, Vespucci wrote letters to a friend in Europe describing his travels and identifying the New World as a separate continent from Asia. These letters also chronicle his encounters with the indigenous people and describe their culture. Vespucci described the natives' religious practices and beliefs, their diet , marriage habits, and, most appealingly to readers, their sexual and childbirth practices. These letters were published in several languages and sold well (better than Columbus' letters, according to Stanford University ) across Europe. This pleased Vespucci who, who recorded his adventures to better leave "some fame behind me after I die." 

Later voyages and other accomplishments

Vespucci's later voyages were not as successful as the 1501 expedition, and , according to Britannica , scholars are unsure of exactly how many later voyages he embarked upon. In 1503, he sailed to Brazil, but when his fleet failed to make any new discoveries, the ships disbanded. Vespucci pressed on, however, and discovered the island of Bahia and South Georgia before returning to Lisbon ahead of schedule (" The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci , " Forgotten Books, 2017) .

Vespucci may have gone on two more voyages, in 1505 and 1507, but accounts are unclear. In 1505, he became a naturalized citizen of Spain, and in 1508, he was named a Pilot Major of Spain, according to Frederick J Pohl ("Amerigo Vespucci", Columbia University Press, 1944). This was a prestigious position that required him to use his considerable navigational skills. Vespucci helped develop and standardize navigational techniques and to select new pilots.

He worked at this post until his death on Feb. 22, 1512. He contracted malaria and died in Spain at nearly 58 years of age. Vespucci is buried in Florence.

The naming of America

Vespucci's reputation has gone through periods of ridicule, and at times he has been viewed as a schemer who attempted to steal glory from Columbus, according to History.Info . But in reality, it wasn't Vespucci's ambition that got two continents named after him: it was the work of a German clergyman and amateur cartographer called Martin Waldseemüller.

In 1507, Waldseemüller and some other scholars were working on an introduction to cosmology that would contain large maps, according to the U.S. Library of Congress . Waldseemüller proposed that a portion of Brazil that Vespucci had explored be named "America," a feminized version of Vespucci's first name. Waldseemüller wrote, "I see no reason why anyone should justly object to calling this part ... America, after Amerigo [Vespucci], its discoverer, a man of great ability."

The name stuck. Waldseemüller's maps sold thousands of copies across Europe. Some reports suggest, for example the Library of Congress , that Waldseemüller had second thoughts about the name America, but it was too late. In 1538, a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator applied the name "America" to both the northern and southern landmasses of the New World, according to Yale University and the continents have been known as such ever since.

Regardless, there is no underestimating the value of Vespucci's contributions to Europeans. Cosme said, "Amerigo Vespucci used his own knowledge and skill, plus the written knowledge from scholars and explorers before him to uncover a Mundus Novus (Latin for "new world") to Europeans."

To learn more about the Waldseemüller map from which America would get its name, check out this article from the Library of Congress . To learn more about Vespucci himself, read this piece from The Ma r iners' Museum . Or try this article from PBS World Explorers .

• Avihu Zakai (" Exile and Kingdom: History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America ", Cambridge University Press, 2002)
• Amerigo Vespucci, The New World Encyclopaedia
• Amerigo Vespucci, Ages of Exploration: Mariners Museum
• Amerigo Vespucci, Biography.com
• The Sea Route West to Cathay, Brittanica.com
• Edward Shaw (" Discoverers and Explorers ", Weitsuechtig,1900.)
• Randy Alfred, " The Man is a Continent…Or Two " Wired, March 9th 2020
• Amerigo Vespucci, " The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucc i",Forgotten Books, 2017
• Frederick J Pohl (" Amerigo Vespucci ", Columbia University Press, 1944)
• " 1512: Amerigo Vespucci- The Man Who Stole The Glory From Christopher Columbus ", History.Info
• John R Herbert, " The Map That Named America ", Library of Congress
• " Mapamundi of 1538 ", Yale University
• Gyula Pápay, " Amerigo Vespucci's Contribution to the Modernization of Cartographic Representation " Springer (17th Century, 2020) 

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Jessie Szalay is a contributing writer to FSR Magazine. Prior to writing for Live Science, she was an editor at Living Social. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from George Mason University and a bachelor's degree in sociology from Kenyon College. 

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Amerigo Vespucci

America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator and explorer who played a prominent role in exploring the New World.

(1451-1512)

Who Was Amerigo Vespucci?

On May 10, 1497, explorer Amerigo Vespucci embarked on his first voyage. On his third and most successful voyage, he discovered present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World. In 1507, America was named after him. He died of malaria in Seville, Spain, on February 22, 1512.

Navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci, the third son in a cultured family, was born on March 9, 1451, (some scholars say 1454) in Florence, Italy. Although born in Italy, Vespucci became a naturalized citizen of Spain in 1505.

Vespucci and his parents, Ser Nastagio and Lisabetta Mini, were friends of the wealthy and tempestuous Medici family, who ruled Italy from the 1400s to 1737. Vespucci's father worked as a notary in Florence. While his older brothers headed off to the University of Pisa in Tuscany, Vespucci received his early education from his paternal uncle, a Dominican friar named Giorgio Antonio Vespucci.

When Vespucci was in his early 20s, another uncle, Guido Antonio Vespucci, gave him one of the first of his many jobs. Guido Antonio Vespucci, who was ambassador of Florence under King Louis XI of France, sent his nephew on a brief diplomatic mission to Paris. The trip likely awakened Vespucci's fascination with travel and exploration.

Before Exploration

In the years before Vespucci embarked on his first voyage of exploration, he held a string of other jobs. When Vespucci was 24 years old, his father pressured him to go into business. Vespucci obliged. At first he undertook a variety of business endeavors in Florence. Later, he moved on to a banking business in Seville, Spain, where he formed a partnership with another man from Florence, named Gianetto Berardi. According to some accounts, from 1483 to 1492, Vespucci worked for the Medici family. During that time he is said to have learned that explorers were looking for a northwest passage through the Indies.

In the late 1490s, Vespucci became affiliated with merchants who supplied Christopher Columbus on his later voyages. In 1496, after Columbus returned from his voyage to America, Vespucci had the opportunity to meet him in Seville. The conversation piqued Vespucci's interest in seeing the world with his own eyes. By the late 1490s, Vespucci's business was struggling to make a profit anyway. Vespucci knew that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain were willing to fund subsequent voyages by other explorers. Then in his 40s, Vespucci, enticed by the prospect of fame, decided to leave his business behind and become an explorer before it was too late.

According to a letter that Vespucci might or might not have truly written, on May 10, 1497, he embarked on his first journey, departing from Cadiz with a fleet of Spanish ships. The controversial letter indicates that the ships sailed through the West Indies and made their way to the mainland of Central America within approximately five weeks. If the letter is authentic, this would mean that Vespucci discovered Venezuela a year before Columbus did. Vespucci and his fleets arrived back in Cadiz in October 1498.

In May 1499, sailing under the Spanish flag, Vespucci embarked on his next expedition, as a navigator under the command of Alonzo de Ojeda. Crossing the equator, they traveled to the coast of what is now Guyana, where it is believed that Vespucci left Ojeda and went on to explore the coast of Brazil. During this journey Vespucci is said to have discovered the Amazon River and Cape St. Augustine.

On May 14, 1501, Vespucci departed on another trans-Atlantic journey. Now on his third voyage, Vespucci set sail for Cape Verde — this time in service to King Manuel I of Portugal. Vespucci's third voyage is largely considered his most successful. While Vespucci did not start out commanding the expedition, when Portuguese officers asked him to take charge of the voyage he agreed. Vespucci's ships sailed along the coast of South America from Cape São Roque to Patagonia. Along the way, they discovered present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Vespucci and his fleets headed back via Sierra Leone and the Azores. Believing he had discovered a new continent, in a letter to Florence, Vespucci called South America the New World. His claim was largely based on Columbus' earlier conclusion: In 1498, when passing the mouth of the Orinoco River, Columbus had determined that such a big outpouring of fresh water must come from land "of continental proportions." Vespucci decided to start recording his accomplishments, writing that accounts of his voyages would allow him to leave "some fame behind me after I die."

On June 10, 1503, sailing again under the Portuguese flag, Vespucci, accompanied by Gonzal Coelho, headed back to Brazil. When the expedition didn't make any new discoveries, the fleet disbanded. To Vespucci's chagrin, the commander of the Portuguese ship was suddenly nowhere to be found. Despite the circumstances, Vespucci forged ahead, managing to discover Bahia and the island of South Georgia in the process. Soon after, he was forced to prematurely abort the voyage and return to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1504.

There is some speculation as to whether Vespucci made additional voyages. Based on Vespucci's accounts, some historians believe that he embarked on a fifth and sixth voyage with Juan de la Cosa, in 1505 and 1507, respectively. Other accounts indicate that Vespucci's fourth journey was his last.

America's Namesake

In 1507, some scholars at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in northern France were working on a geography book called Cosmographiæ Introductio , which contained large cut-out maps that the reader could use to create his or her own globes. German cartographer Martin Waldseemüler, one of the book's authors, proposed that the newly discovered Brazilian portion of the New World be labeled America, the feminine version of the name Amerigo, after Amerigo Vespucci. The gesture was his means of honoring the person who discovered it, and indeed granted Vespucci the legacy of being America's namesake.

Decades later, in 1538, the mapmaker Mercator, working off the maps created at St-Dié, chose to mark the name America on both the northern and the southern parts of the continent, instead of just the southern portion. While the definition of America expanded to include more territory, Vespucci seemed to gain credit for areas that most would agree were actually first discovered by Columbus.

Final Years and Death

In 1505, Vespucci, who was born and raised in Italy, became a naturalized citizen of Spain. Three years later, he was awarded the office of piloto mayor , or master navigator, of Spain. In this role, Vespucci's job was to recruit and train other navigators, as well as to gather data on continued New World exploration. Vespucci held the position for the remainder of his life.

On February 22, 1512, Vespucci died of malaria in Seville, Spain.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Amerigo Vespucci
• Birth Year: 1451
• Birth City: Florence
• Birth Country: Italy
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator and explorer who played a prominent role in exploring the New World.
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 1512
• Death City: Seville
• Death Country: Spain

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• Amerigo Vespucci / Famous Explorers

Amerigo Vespucci’s Greatest Achievements and Voyages

by World History Edu · November 4, 2021

Amerigo Vespucci – biography and achievements

Amerigo Vespucci, a Florence, Italy-born navigator, merchant, and explorer, was one of the most renowned European explorers of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. And did you know that the name of the Americas was obtained from Amerigo Vespucci’s name?

What impact did this Italian-born explorer have on the world of exploration and the New World? And what were some of his greatest discoveries?

Below, World History Edu takes a quick look at the life and major achievements of Amerigo Vespucci.

Quick facts about Amerigo Vespucci

Date of birth : c. 1454

Place of birth : Florence, Republic of Florence (present-day Italy)

Died : February 22, 1512

Place of death : Sevilla, Crown of Castile (present-day Spain)

Mother : Lisa di Giovanni Mini

Father : Nostagio Vespucci

Siblings : Antonio and Girolamo

Most famous for : His voyages to the New World; Lending his name to the name of “America”

Major achievements of Amerigo Vespucci

During his illustrious career in exploration and navigation, Amerigo Vespucci was able to accomplish a lot of outstanding things. Some of his major accomplishments are as follows:

A member of the delegation sent by influential Italian family Medici to visit the king of France

Amerigo Vespucci’s family had a cordial relation with the very influential Florentine family named the Medici family. Lorenzo de’ Medici, a member of the Medici family, was in effect the de facto ruler of Florence for many years.

To secure French support for Florence’s war with Naples, the Medici family in Florence sent a diplomatic delegation to France’s Louis XI (reign- 1461-1483), also known as “Louis the Prudent”. Vespucci was perhaps an attaché or private secretary of the delegation. Although the Louis did not want commit, Vespucci returned to Florence having gained a good deal of experience.

Amerigo Vespucci’s influences (from left to right): Strabo (c. 64 BC- c. 24 AD), Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170 AD), and Italian mathematician and cosmographer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1398-1482).

Helped in the preparations for Columbus’s voyages to the New World

Proving himself a capable and well-educated man, Amerigo Vespucci gained the trust Medici family members such as Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, who a former classmate of Amerigo.

Steadily, Vespucci came to be assigned to Giannotto Berardi to help in the preparations for Christopher Columbus ’s third expeditions to the New World. He was also involved in preparing many other explorers for their voyages.

By the mid-1490s, he had risen to become the head of the Sevilla agency for Giovanni Medici.

Following the death of Giannotto Berardi in 1495, Vespucci was appointed the manager of the Medici Sevilla agency in Spain, where he helped organize a number of voyages for explorers, including Christopher Columbus. | Possible portrait of Lorenzo (1463-1503), by Sandro Botticelli

Vespucci popularized the discoveries made in the New World

His booklets in 1503 and 1505 about his voyages to the New World received critical acclaim across Europe. His reports helped to a large extent in making popular the discoveries that were made by European explorers at the time. They also boosted his reputation as a renowned navigator and explorer of the Age of Discovery (1400 to 1700 AD).

Amerigo Vespucci coined the term “New World” in 1503

Vespucci made popular the use of the term “New World” across Europe. | Sebastian Münster’s map of the New World, first published in 1540

In his 1503 letter – which was written to his friend and former employer Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de’ Medici – he used the term “New World” to refer to the Western Hemisphere that had become a popular destination for many European navigators and explorers. In the letter, which was later published in 1503 in Latin with the title Mundus Novus , Vespucci also makes mention of his voyage to Brazil in 1501-1502.

Vespucci strongly believed (and rightly so) that the Western Hemisphere lands discovered by navigators from Europe were not the edges of Asia, instead they were part of an entirely different continent. He came to that conclusion during his voyage to present-day Brazil in 1501. | Image: Amerigo Vespucci, Mundus Novus, Letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici in 1502/1503

Amerigo Vespucci’s letters

It is worth mentioning that there exist two series of documents on the various voyages (from 1497 to 1504) taken by Amerigo Vespucci. Those two documents are sometimes all that scholars have to understanding the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci to the New World.

The first document was a letter from Vespucci to Piero di Tommaso Soderini, the gonfalonier (an Italian magistrate). The letter, which was dated September 4, 1504, was written in Italian. Known as the Soderini letter, the document was published in Florence in 1505. It claims that Vespucci embarked upon four voyages in total. However, some modern historians and scholars have questioned the authorship and reliability of the letter. Regardless, the Soderini letter proved very useful when it came to naming the American continent. Also, two Latin versions of the letter appeared in works “Quattuor americi navigations” and “Mundus Novus”.

The second series of documents mentions two voyages by Amerigo Vespucci. The documents are made up of three private letters addressed to Vespucci’s former employer and patron Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici.

Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages (1497-1504)

Although still a subject of immense debate, Amerigo Vespucci’s first two voyages to the New World are alleged to have taken place in the late 1490s.

According to a 1504 letter he allegedly penned to a Florentine official named Piero di Tommaso Soderini, Vespucci first sailed to the New World on May 10, 1497. The voyage, which was licensed by the Crown of Castile, saw Vespucci act as a navigator. The voyage had Juan de la Cosa as the chief navigator, while Alonso de Ojeda served as the commander. The goal was to explore the area where Christopher Columbus had reported seeing pearls during his third voyage.

Because the Soderini letter is the only documentation that talks about this voyage, some scholars have opined that the Vespucci never made such voyages. They go on to state that the letter was most likely a forgery. | Image: Amerigo Vespucci’s second voyage depicted in the first known edition of his letter to Piero Soderini, published by Pietro Pacini in Florence c.1505

To this day, it remains a bit unclear as to the exact role of Vespucci during the voyage. It is possible that he served as a commercial representative of the financiers of the voyage. Some scholars state that he was a navigator on the expedition that saw four ships set sail from Spain in 1499.

The expedition first stopped in the Canary Islands and then sailed to South America. When they arrived at the coast of French Guyana or Surinam, Captain Ojeda split the expedition team into two and headed northwest to modern day Venezuela, while Vespucci team sailed south. Vespucci was part of the team that discovered the mouth of the Amazon River. They then went as far as Cape St. Augustine (latitude about 6° S) before making their way past Trinidad, seeing the mouth of the Orinoco River before heading to Haiti. After making a stop at the Spanish colony at Hispaniola in the West Indies, the team returned to Spain in June 1500.

Amerigo Vespucci’s second voyage of 1501-1502

Upon returning to Spain, Vespucci proposed a voyage to the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of the Ganges (present day Bay of Bengal), and Ceylon (today’s Sri Lanka). Unfortunately, his proposal was turned down by the Spanish government. Not wanting to dwell too much on the rejection, Vespucci decided to go into the service of Portugal and embark upon his second voyage.

Vespucci’s 1501-1502 voyage was licensed and supported by Manuel I of Portugal. The pilot for the voyage was Portuguese explorer Gonçalo Coelho, who was tasked to investigate a landmass far to the west in the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal had wanted to determine the extent of Portuguese nobleman and navigator and explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral’s discovery which was far to the west in the Atlantic Ocean (near present-day Brazil). The voyage was intended to allow Porrtugal to claim the land to the east of the line established by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

With a total of three ships, Vespucci sailed from Lisbon, Portugal on May 13, 1501. They went through the Cape Verde Islands for resupply before journeying southwestward. In August 1501, the expedition made it to the coast of Brazil and then proceeded to Cape St. Augustine. They continued southward, coming into contact with Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro’s bay). The crew named the bay Rio de Janeiro because it was January 1, 1502.

By going as far as Rio de la Plata in January 1502, Vespucci and the crew became the first European to find the estuary. Before setting sail back home, they passed by the coast of Patagonia (in present-day southern Argentina).

His alleged third voyage (1503-1504)

Vespucci’s third voyage came under the auspices of his Portuguese employers in 1503. However, there are some scholars that claim that the Italian explorer never made such voyage.

Those who support his claims of his third voyage cite a letter he wrote to Soderini. In the letter, it was mentioned that Vespucci travelled to the east coast of Brazil. Not much detail is known about the voyage. It must be noted that the expedition did not do much to advance the knowledge at the time.

The name “America” was derived from Amerigo Vespucci’s name

Around 1000 AD, the Vikings, under the leadership of Norse explorer Leif Erikson, “discovered” the continent of America. Half a millennium later Christopher Columbus’ expeditions would introduce Europeans to many Caribbean and Central American islands.

And somehow, Amerigo Vespucci’s name is the name given to the continent. That was due to the work of German cartographers and humanists Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470-1520) and Matthias Ringmann (1482-1511), who named those “discovered” land areas after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

The word “America” appeared for the first time in 1507 in Waldseemüller and Ringmann’s pamphlet titled “Cosmographiae Introductio” ( Introduction to Cosmography ). After and a new world map drawn by Waldseemüller. The pamphlet also made its way into the Latin translation of the Soderini letter.

A thousand copies of the world map were printed with the title Universal Geography According to the Tradition of Ptolemy and the Contributions of Amerigo Vespucci and Others. | Image: Waldseemüller map from 1507 is the first map to include the name “America” and the first to depict the Americas as separate from Asia. The name initially applied only to South America, but it later extended to North and Central America.  

The name “America” was derived from the Latinized first name of Amerigo Vespucci. German cartographers and humanists Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470-1520) and Matthias Ringmann (1482-1511) used named the continent in honor of the invaluable contributions made by Vespucci.

Waldseemüller (c. 1470-1520) was also the first to map South America as a continent separate from Asia, the first to produce a printed globe and the first to create a printed wall map of Europe. After the publication of Waldseemüller’s work in 1507, other cartographers followed suit, and by 1532 the name America was permanently affixed to the newly discovered continents.

It must be noted that the name “America” referred to only the South American continent, as the North and Central America had not yet been “discovered” by European explorers. In any case, the name came to be used synonymous with the New World, i.e. name of the western hemisphere of the world.

German humanist scholars and cosmographers Matthias Ringmann and Martin Waldseemüll’s 1507 book “Cosmographiae Introductio” (Introduction to Cosmography) included the Latin translation of the Soderini letter, a letter Vespucci wrote Soderini. Prior to the coming out of “Cosmographiae Introductio” (Introduction to Cosmography), Martin Waldseemuller had reprinted the “Quattuor Americi navigationes” (“Four Voyages of Amerigo”).

Distinguished consultant in the court of King Ferdinand of Spain

In 1508, he was appointed by the Crown of Castile to serve as the piloto mayor (master navigator) in the  Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville. Image: Statue of Vespucci outside the Uffizi in Florence, Italy

By 1505, Vespucci’s name had become known all across Europe, almost to the same reverence as fellow Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. Vespucci was invited by Ferdinand of Spain to serve the monarch on matters of navigation and exploration.

He was employed by Spain to facilitate exploration into the New World by prepare explorers for the voyages. Based in Seville, the very respected navigator and explorer was also tasked to working out western passage from Europe to India. Vespucci even got paid for his work, receiving an annual salary of about 50,000 maravedis and other allowances and benefits.

He also worked as the chief navigator for the Casa de Contratación  de las Indias (Commercial House for the Indies), an agency founded in 1503 in Sevilla to not only train pilots and ship masters but to also issue out licenses to ship captains and navigators. Vespucci stayed in that position until his death in 1512.

Read More: 10 Greatest Explorers of All Time

Other notable accomplishments of Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci accomplishments

In addition to being one of the most famous pioneers of Atlantic exploration, Amerigo Vespucci’s discoveries helped expand our knowledge of the New World. The following are other notable accomplishments of the Florence-born explorer and navigator:

• In April 1505, Amerigo Vespucci was made a citizen of Castile and León under the auspices of a royal proclamation.
• From 1505 to 1512, he worked for the Spanish crown, prepared official map of newly found lands and routes. Those maps were meant for organizing and coordinating expeditions to the New World.

More Amerigo Vespucci facts

He grew up in middle-income family in Santa Lucia d’Ognissanti. | Image: – Portrait engraving of Vespucci by Crispijn van de Passe, which titles him discoverer and conqueror of Brazilian land

Here are 10 other notable facts about the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci:

• It is widely held that Amerigo Vespucci was born on March 9, 1451. However, there have been some claims that put his birth year in 1454.
• While working in Seville as a business agent for the Medici family, he married a Spanish woman named Maria Cerezo. In Amerigo’s will, he describes her as the daughter of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.
• The meaning of his name Vespucci translates into “Home Ruler”.
• Amerigo Vespucci was the third son of Nostagio Vespucci, a notary worker in Florence, Italy, and Lisa di Giovanni Mini.
• He was named after his grandfather Amerigo Vespucci, who was an important member of the Florentine government (the Signoria ).
• Amerigo Vespucci received his early education from his uncle Giorgio Antonio, a member of the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominacan friar) in the monastery of San Marco. Giorgio was a renowned humanist scholar in Florence. Amerigo had the opportunity to learn a great deal of things from Giorgio, including Latin, rhetoric, and philosophy.
• His uncle also introduced him to works of classical Greek astronomers and geographers such as Strabo (c. 64 BC- c. 24 AD) and Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170 AD). Amerigo also derived a bit of influence from the works of Italian mathematician and cosmographer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1398-1482).
• While working for the Medici family, he purchased a very expensive map drawn by Gabriel de Vallseca, a renowned cartographer.
• He embarked upon at least two expeditions to the New World; the first (1499-1500) was on behalf of Spain, while the second (1501-1502) was for his Portuguese employers.
• His critics accused him of taking credit for other people’s accomplishments. In some cases, it’s been said that other scholars erroneously appropriated works and discoveries of other explorers to him.

Bibliography

Ann Fitzpatrick Alper,  Forgotten Voyager: The Story of Amerigo Vespucci (Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group, 1991)

Edwards, Charles Lester; Vespucci, Amerigo (2009).  Amerigo Vespucci . Viartis

Fernández-Armesto, Felipe (2007).  Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America . New York: Random House

Formisano, Luciano (1992).  Letters from a New World: Amerigo Vespucci’s Discovery of America . New York: Marsilio

Lynn Hoogenboom,  Amerigo Vespucci: A Primary Source Biography (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2006)

Mundus Novus: Letter to Lorenzo Pietro Di Medici, by Amerigo Vespucci; translation by George Tyler Northrup, Princeton University Press; 1916.

M.H.Davidson (1997)  Columbus Then and Now, a life re-examined. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press , p. 417)

Ray, Kurt (2004).  Amerigo Vespucci: Italian Explorer of the Americas . New York: The Rosen Publishing Group

Schulz, Norbert; Vespucci, Amerigo (2007).  Amerigo Vespucci, Mundus Novus (mit Zweittexten) . MMO-Verlag

Vigneras, Louis-André (1976).  The Discovery of South America and the Andalusian Voyages . Chicago: University of Chicago Press

The Cosmographer Who Unknowingly Gave His Name to the Americas, by Mistake. Accessed on Nov 2, 2021

Tags: Amerigo Vespucci Florence-Italy Italian explorers The New World

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Amerigo Vespucci, Italian Explorer and Cartographer

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Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454–February 22, 1512) was an Italian explorer and cartographer. In the early 16th century, he showed that the New World was not part of Asia but was, in fact, its own distinct area. The Americas take their name from the Latin form of "Amerigo."

Fast Facts: Amerigo Vespucci

• Known For: Vespucci's expeditions led him to the realization that the New World was distinct from Asia; the Americas were named after him.
• Born: March 9, 1454 in Florence, Italy
• Parents: Ser Nastagio Vespucci and Lisabetta Mini
• Died: February 22, 1512 in Seville, Spain
• Spouse: Maria Cerezo

Amerigo Vespucci was born on March 9, 1454, to a prominent family in Florence, Italy. As a young man, he read widely and collected books and maps. He eventually began working for local bankers and was sent to Spain in 1492 to look after his employer's business interests.

While he was in Spain, Vespucci had the chance to meet Christopher Columbus , who had just returned from his voyage to America; the meeting increased Vespucci's interest in taking a journey across the Atlantic. He soon began working on ships, and he went on his first expedition in 1497. The Spanish ships passed through the West Indies, reached South America, and returned to Spain the following year. In 1499, Vespucci went on his second voyage, this time as an official navigator. The expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon River and explored the coast of South America. Vespucci was able to calculate how far west he had traveled by observing the conjunction of Mars and the Moon.

The New World

On his third voyage in 1501, Vespucci sailed under the Portuguese flag. After leaving Lisbon, it took Vespucci 64 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean due to light winds. His ships followed the South American coast to within 400 miles of the southern tip, Tierra del Fuego. Along the way, the Portuguese sailors in charge of the voyage asked Vespucci to take over as commander.

While he was on this expedition, Vespucci wrote two letters to a friend in Europe. He described his travels and was the first to identify the New World of North and South America as a separate landmass from Asia. (Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed he had reached Asia.) In one letter , dated March (or April) 1503, Vespucci described the diversity of life on the new continent:

We knew that land to be a continent, and not an island, from its long beaches extending without trending round, the infinite number of inhabitants, the numerous tribes and peoples, the numerous kinds of wild animals unknown in our country, and many others never seen before by us, touching which it would take long to make reference.

In his writings, Vespucci also described the culture of the indigenous people , focusing on their diet, religion, and—what made these letters very popular—their sexual, marriage, and childbirth practices. The letters were published in many languages and were distributed across Europe (they sold much better than Columbus's own diaries). Vespucci's descriptions of the natives were vivid and frank:

They are people gentle and tractable, and all of both sexes go naked, not covering any part of their bodies, just as they came from their mothers’ wombs, and so they go until their deaths...They are of a free and good-looking expression of countenance, which they themselves destroy by boring the nostrils and lips, the nose and ears...They stop up these perforations with blue stones, bits of marble, of crystal, or very fine alabaster, also with very white bones and other things.

Vespucci also described the richness of the land, and hinted that the region could be easily exploited for its valuable raw materials, including gold and pearls:

The land is very fertile, abounding in many hills and valleys, and in large rivers, and is irrigated by very refreshing springs. It is covered with extensive and dense forests...No kind of metal has been found except gold, in which the country abounds, though we have brought none back in this our first navigation. The natives, however, assured us that there was an immense quantity of gold underground, and nothing was to be had from them for a price. Pearls abound, as I wrote to you.

Scholars are not certain whether or not Vespucci participated in a fourth voyage to the Americas in 1503. If he did, there is little record of it, and we can assume the expedition was not very successful. Nevertheless, Vespucci did assist in the planning of other voyages to the New World.

European colonization of this region accelerated in the years after Vespucci's voyages, resulting in settlements in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. The Italian explorer's work played an important role in helping colonizers navigate the territory.

Vespucci was named pilot-major of Spain in 1508. He was proud of this accomplishment, writing that "I was more skillful than all the shipmates of the whole world." Vespucci contracted malaria and died in Spain in 1512 at the age of 57.

The German clergyman-scholar Martin Waldseemüller liked to make up names. He even created his own last name by combining the words for "wood," "lake," and "mill." Waldseemüller was working on a contemporary world map in 1507, based on the Greek geography of Ptolemy , and he had read of Vespucci's travels and knew that the New World was indeed two continents.

In honor of Vespucci's discovery of this portion of the world, Waldseemüller printed a wood block map (called "Carta Mariana") with the name "America" spread across the southern continent of the New World. Waldseemüller sold 1,000 copies of the map across Europe.

Within a few years, Waldseemüller had changed his mind about the name for the New World—but it was too late. The name America had stuck. Gerardus Mercator's world map of 1538 was the first to include North America and South America. Vespucci's legacy lives on through the continents named in his honor.

• Fernández-Armesto Felipe. "Amerigo: the Man Who Gave His Name to America." Random House, 2008.
• Vespucci, Amerigo. “The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci.” Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) .
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• Amerigo Vespucci

Born on March 9th, 1454 in Florence, Italy, Amerigo Vespucci was a prominent Italian explorer , cartographer, merchant, navigator and financier. He is famous for coining the term the “New World.” This supercontinent was eventually named by Martin Waldseemuller “America,” which is a feminized Latin version of his Amerigo.

Waldseemuller’s new world map, created in 1507, was based on Vespucci’s expeditions. It was the first map to accurately depict a separate Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean as a new ocean. He remains in the history of the world as being the first cartographer to demonstrate that the New World was not the eastern outskirts of the continent Asia.

Early Years

The Florentine born explorer was educated by Fra Giorgio Vespucci, who was his uncle and a Dominican friar of San Marco convent in Florence. He started working as a clerk for the Medici Bank bank in Europe during the Renaissance period. In 1492, Amerigo Vespucci was sent to Cadiz, Spain as a confidential agent to observe the Medici branch office. In 1495 he worked for Giannotto Berardi who had a contract with the Crown of Castile to provide vessels for navigators travelling in the West Indies. Amerigo Vespucci further worked as a provision contractor for the expeditions in the Indies, including for the historic voyages of Christopher Columbus .

Between 1497 and 1504, the famous Italian explorer made four voyages from Spain to the New World, the first alleged voyage lasted from May, 1497, until October, 1498. Europe became acquainted with the results of his groundbreaking expeditions after the publication of two letters which were both attributed to Amerigo Vespucci. While there are four voyages mentioned in the first series, only two are mentioned in the second series of letters.

The second and third voyages are considered to be true by historians, as they were corroborated in his other manuscript letters. Meanwhile, the first and the forth are deemed as fabricated by Florentine publishers, by putting together various accounts. Vespucci’s second voyage, in the service of Spain, resulted in the discovery of the Amazon River, the Orinoco River and Trinidad. According to the letter, Vespucci, who was also a cartographer, managed to determine his longitude celestially. He did this by charting stars on the horizon. The third voyage, in the service of Portugal, was led by Portuguese explorer Goncalo Coelho between 1501 and 1502 and resulted in reaching the latitude of Patagonia, according to Vespucci s own account. He also mapped the constellation Crux as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri after this expedition. The uncertain fourth voyage is said to have taken place between 1503 and 1504. Official Portuguese documents confirm a voyage to Brazil by the same Goncalo Coelho, but do not mention Vespucci’s presence aboard.

In 1508, the Italian explorer was appointed by King Ferdinand chief navigator of Spain and he was responsible with planning navigation for various voyages to the West Indies. Amerigo Vespucci passed away of an unknown cause on February 22nd, 1512 in Seville, Crown of Castile in Spain.

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10 Interesting Facts About Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer who made at least two voyages to the New World and was the first to recognize the Americas as distinct continents and not part of Asia. He is most famous for being the person on whose name the Americas were named. Know about the life, voyages, contributions and achievements of Amerigo Vespucci through these 10 interesting facts.

#1 HE WAS THE THIRD OF FOUR SONS OF A FLORENTINE NOTARY

Born on March 9, 1454 (or 1451) in Florence, Italy , Amerigo Vespucci was the son of Ser Nastagio , a notary, and his wife Lisabetta Mini . He had two elder brothers named Antonio and Gerolamo; and a younger brother named Bernardo. Amerigo was educated by his uncle Giorgio Antonio . The Vespucci family were friends with the famous Italian family of Medici, who ruled over Italy for more than 300 years.

#2 VESPUCCI MET AND CONVERSED WITH COLUMBUS IN 1496

When Amerigo was in his early 20s, one of his uncles, Guido Antonio , was sent by the Medici family to be their spokesman to King Louis XI of France , and Amerigo accompanied him. Vespucci then worked for the Medicis, first as a banker and later as a supervisor of their ship-outfitting business, which operated in Seville, Spain. Through his work in Spain Vespucci learned about exploration, a field which was on the rise since the advent of the Age of Discovery in early 15th century. His business also led to his meeting with Christopher Columbus in 1496.

#3 HE MADE AT LEAST TWO VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD BETWEEN 1497 AND 1504

By late 1490s, when Vespucci was in his 40s, he decided to leave his struggling business behind and pursue exploration. There is controversy over the dates and number of voyages he made due to the existence of two different series of documents. While one puts it at 2, the other claims that he made 4 voyages. Most historians consider that Vespucci made only two voyages as they have serious doubts over the authenticity of the other document. So between 1497 and 1504 , Vespucci undertook at least 2 voyages to the New World.

#4 IT IS BELIEVED THAT HE WAS THE FIRST TO DISCOVER THE MOUTH OF THE AMAZON RIVER

The first certainly authentic voyage of Vespucci was completed between May 1499 and June 1500 . He was part of an expedition of four ships sent from Spain under the command of Alonso de Ojeda . After reaching the coast of what is now Guyana, they divided forces. Vespucci turned south and is believed to have discovered the mouth of the Amazon River . He probably went as far as Cape St. Augustine . On the way back he reached Trinidad, sighted the mouth of the Orinoco River, and then made for Haiti.

#5 HE WENT INTO SERVICE OF PORTUGAL AFTER SPAIN REJECTED HIS EXPEDITION PLAN

Vespucci thought he had hit extreme eastern part of Asia during his first voyage. On his return to Spain he set about preparing for a new expedition with the aim of reaching the Indian Ocean and what now is the Bay of Bengal and Sri Lanka. However the Spanish government did not entertain his proposal. Due to this at the end of 1500, Vespucci went into the service of Portugal.

#6 VESPUCCI’S 1501-1502 VOYAGE WAS HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL

Vespucci’s last certain expedition set of from Lisbon in Portugal on May 13, 1501 . Led by Gonçalo Coelho , it proved to be his most successful voyage for which he is most known. The fleet sailed first to Cape Verde. It then sailed along the coast of South America from Cape Sao Roque to Patagonia , discovering present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata along the way. The return route of the fleet is not known. It reached Lisbon back in July, 1502 .

#7 HE WAS THE FIRST TO RECOGNIZE AMERICAS AS DISTINCT CONTINENTS

During his voyage of 1501-1502, Amerigo Vespucci became convinced that the place he visited was an entirely separate continent from Asia as it was much larger than previously thought and different to what Asia had been described. He wrote a letter to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de’ Medici in 1503 describing his findings. It was published soon under the title Mundus Novus (“New World”) , a term first coined by Vespucci and by which the Americas became known.

#8 THE NEW CONTINENT AMERICA WAS NAMED AFTER Him

Vespucci’s voyage of 1501-1502 was of fundamental importance in the history of geographic discovery as scholars became convinced that the discovered lands were not part of Asia as previously conjectured from Columbus’ voyages , but a New World. In 1507, Martin Waldseemuller , a German cartographer, produced a world map using the information from Columbus and Vespucci’s travels. He named the new continent America using the Latinized form of Vespucci’s first name Americus and taking the feminized version America. This was the first use of the name America.

#9 HE HELD THE PRESTIGIOUS POSITION OF PILOT MAJOR OF SPAIN

In 1505, Vespucci became a naturalized citizen of Spain. On March 22, 1508, King Ferdinand made Vespucci Pilot Major (chief navigator) of Spain at a huge salary. He was commissioned to set up a school of navigation to standardize and modernize navigation techniques. He worked at this post until his death. On February 22, 1512 Vespucci died of malaria at his home in Seville, Spain and was buried at Vespucci family burial place in Florence, Italy . His widow Maria Cerezo was given a lifetime pension of 10,000 marvedis per annum.

#10 VESPUCCI HAS BEEN BLAMED FOR USURPING THE CREDIT OF OTHERS

The reputation of Amerigo Vespucci has seen several highs and lows. Historians have blamed him for stealing the credit of others, mainly Christopher Columbus. Serious doubts over the authenticity of letters which magnify his accomplishments have further damaged his reputation. However, many scholars now believe that these letters were not written by Vespucci. Whatever might be the case, Amerigo Vespucci remains a pioneer of Atlantic exploration , an important figure in the Age of Discovery and his travel literature regarding the New World was instrumental in furthering geographic discovery .

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Top 15 Interesting facts about Amerigo Vespucci

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Top 15 interesting facts about amerigo vespucci, 1. who is amerigo vespucci, 2. his letters.

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3. The discovery of new worlds

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4. The sailing ship dedicated to Amerigo Vespucci

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5. The Museum of navigators

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6. The portrait of Amerigo Vespucci at Ognissanti

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old map by Ylanite Koppens da Pixabay

8. Unpublished letters of Vespucci

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9. The cultural influences of Vespucci

Dante by SALVATORE MONETTI da Pixabay

10. Eternal fame

Vespucci by WikimediaImages da Pixabay

11. He Discovered America as a Separate Continent.

12. discovery of the amazon river.

Coordenação-Geral de Observação da Terra/INPE , CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

13. The Name America is Derived from His Name Amerigo

14. his father was a well-known notary, 15. he was employed by the medici family.

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Amerigo Vespucci Timeline of Discoveries and Accomplishments

Published: Aug 9, 2023 · Modified: Oct 19, 2023 by Russell Yost · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian merchant and explorer who completed four voyages to the Americas between 1497 and 1504. He was the first European to recognize that these lands were not part of Asia, but a new continent.

His letters describing his voyages helped to popularize the idea of the Americas as a new world, and his name was eventually given to the entire Western Hemisphere.

Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy, in 1454. He studied astronomy and navigation at the University of Florence and then worked as a merchant for the Medici family.

Early Life (1451 - 1478)

Early career (1482 - 1495), voyages and later years (1497 - 1512).

In 1497, he was hired by the King of Spain to participate in an expedition to the Americas. Vespucci's first voyage took him to the coast of South America, where he explored the coastline and made contact with the native people. He returned to Spain in 1499.

Vespucci made three more voyages to the Americas, in 1501-1502, 1503-1504, and 1505-1506.

On these voyages, he explored more of the coast of South America and also visited the Caribbean islands.

1451:  Amerigo Vespucci into the Vespucci family was a well-known surname that lived and was successful in Florence. He was born at the beginning of the Renaissance, and his family were good friends with the Medici family, who held most of the power within the city. There is a good chance that Amerigo Vespucci would have personally known Leonardo da Vinci during his teenage years.

1465 - 1470s:  His older brothers were sent to the University of Pisa for their education, but Amerigo was tutored by his uncle. His uncle happened to be one of the most respected and educated humanist thinkers of that time and taught his nephew all the liberal arts, including astronomy and Latin. This education was key to his development in the upcoming century.

1478: His cousin led a Florentine diplomatic mission to Paris and invited Amerigo Vespucci to join him. Amerigo's role is not clear, but it was likely as an attache or private secretary. Along the way, they had business in Bologna, Milan, and Lyon. Their objective in Paris was to obtain French support for Florence's war with Naples. The mission did not yield many results, but no doubt was an excellent experience for Vespucci.

1482:  After his father died, he went to work for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici, head of the junior branch of the Medici family. Although Amerigo was twelve years older, they had been schoolmates under the tutelage of his uncle. Amerigo served first as a household manager and then gradually took on increasing responsibilities, handling various business dealings for the family both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, he continued to show an interest in geography, at one point buying an expensive map made by the master cartographer Gabriel de Vallseca.

1488: Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco became dissatisfied with his Seville business agent, Tomasso Capponi. He dispatched Vespucci to investigate the situation and provide an assessment of a suggested replacement, Florentine merchant Gianotto Berardi. 

1492:  Christopher Columbus discovered the New World and sent shockwaves throughout Europe. With a new route being opened, it created more opportunities. At this time, Vespucci had moved from Florence to Seville, where he worked with Gianotto Berardi. It was through Berardi that he became familiar with Christopher Columbus.

1495:  Berardi signed a contract with the crown to send 12 resupply ships to Hispaniola but then died unexpectedly in December without completing the terms of the contract. Vespucci was the executor of Berardi's will, collecting debts and paying outstanding obligations for the firm. Afterward, he was left owing 140,000 maravedis . He continued to provision ships bound for the West Indies, but his opportunities were diminishing; Columbus's expeditions were not providing the hoped-for profits, and his patron, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, was using other Florentine agents for his business in Seville.

During this time, he married.

1497 - 1500:  According to Amerigo Vespucci, he took two voyages under the Spanish Crown to the New World. These voyages have been disputed as fiction by historians, but they cannot be proven false. 

1501 - 1504:  Vespucci would sail under the Portuguese Crown during the next two voyages. While the first voyage is not disputed, the second voyage is disputed by some historians. Again, these accusations cannot be proven false, and there are primary sources of Vespucci's that state he was there.

Vespucci realized that he was not in Asia and had instead discovered a new continent on August 17, 1501. He was sailing along the coast of Brazil on his first voyage to the Americas when he noticed that the land did not match the descriptions of Asia that he had read. The rivers were larger, the mountains were higher, and the people were different. Vespucci also noticed that the land extended much further south than Asia was thought to extend.

1505 - 1506: He returned to Seville and served the Spanish Crown. The Spanish monarchy did not mind that he had served Portugal and wanted to know information that could possibly show them a new way to Asia. 

1508: He was named chief pilot for the  Casa de Contratación  or House of Commerce, which served as a central trading house for Spain's overseas possessions. He was paid an annual salary of 50,000  maravedis with an extra 25,000 for expenses. In his new role, Vespucci was responsible for ensuring that ships' pilots were adequately trained and licensed before sailing to the New World.

1512:  He died and left his modest estate to his wife and his books to his nephew. His fame would come later, and two continents and a country have his name.

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Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages across the Atlantic helped prove that Columbus did not reach Asia, but instead found a New World to the Europeans

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Tony Durand Prix Amérigo Vespucci Jeunesse 2024

L'album Quelqu'un quelque part de Tony Durand a été couronné par le Prix Amérigo Vespucci Jeunesse 2024 lors du Festival International de Géographie à Saint-Dié-des-Vosges.

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03/09/2024 à 11:57

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Tony Durand, qui est à la fois l'auteur et l'illustrateur de ce livre, a été publié le 24 janvier 2024 par les éditions møtus.

Dans cet album créatif et riche en couleurs, réalisé avec une technique de papier découpé, il invite les jeunes lecteurs à réfléchir sur leur place dans le monde et les interactions humaines.

Cette récompense a été décernée dans le cadre de la 35e édition du Festival International de Géographie de Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, où Tony Durand fera une apparition les 5 et 6 octobre prochains.

Tony Durand est graphiste de formation. Après des études de lettres, il s'est formé au graphisme et à la gravure de manière semi-autodidacte.

À LIRE - Les Vosges célèbrent la géographie en littérature

Alternant entre commandes professionnelles et projets personnels, chaque aspect de son travail enrichit l'autre. Il a précédemment collaboré avec les éditions Didier Jeunesse et Actes Sud Junior, et continue de développer son style entre illustration, bricolage, et assemblages. Quelqu'un quelque part est son troisième ouvrage publié par møtus, après Qui suis-je et Tout se transforme.

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29/08/2024, 10:44

42 détenues jurées du Prix Littéraire de la Liberté Intérieure 2024

La 7e édition du Prix Littéraire de la Liberté Intérieure, organisée par l'émission Le Jour du Seigneur diffusée sur France 2, mettra en avant 42 personnes détenues, issues de 15 établissements pénitentiaires disséminés à travers la France, en tant que jurés pour l'édition 2024. Les 7 ouvrages en lice, retenus par le Comité de sélection du Prix littéraire de la Liberté Intérieure, sont aussi connus.

27/08/2024, 10:33

Claire Garand Prix Rosny du Roman 2024

À l'occasion de la Convention nationale de science-fiction, Les gagnants du prix Rosny 2024 ont été annoncés. Claire Garand remporte le prix Rosny 2024 dans la catégorie roman pour son œuvre Paideia , éditée chez La Volte. Ce roman, qui avait déjà reçu le Prix Julia Verlanger, Nicolas de Torsiac dans la catégorie nouvelle, pour Le fils du fossoyeur, paru dans le hors-série de la revue Galaxies en décembre dernier.

26/08/2024, 13:25

Anatole Edouard Nicolo Prix Envoyé par la Poste 2024

#PEPLP2024 – Le Prix « Envoyé par La Poste » 2024, qui récompense un primo-romancier dont le manuscrit a été adressé à un éditeur par voie postale, a été décerné, pour sa 10e édition, à Anatole Edouard Nicolo, pour À l'ombre des choses , publié chez Calmann-Lévy. La remise du prix se tiendra le 3 septembre 2024, sous la présidence de Philippe Wahl, président du Groupe La Poste et de sa fondation d’entreprise.

22/08/2024, 18:15

Honorer l'édition indépendante avec le Prix Hors Concours

La 9e cérémonie de remise du prix Hors Concours se tiendra le 26 novembre 2024 à la Maison de la Poésie à Paris. Cette récompense, exclusivement dédiée aux romans et récits francophones issus de maisons d'édition indépendantes, en est à sa 9e édition. Le prix, doté de 100 euros, est partagé entre l'auteur et l'éditeur.

22/08/2024, 16:16

La sélection du Prix du Titre de Hôtel de Paris 2024 est sortie

Le Prix du Titre - Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez est un prix littéraire unique en son genre qui sélectionne d'abord les œuvres par leur titre avant de confirmer leur valeur par l'unité de l'œuvre. Comme son nom l'indique, est remis chaque année à l'Hôtel de Paris, à Saint-Tropez.

22/08/2024, 10:56

La sélection des Prix du Livre Allemand 2024

Pour sa vingtième édition cette année, le Prix du Livre Allemand a procédé à une première sélection de 20 romans, après avoir évalué 197 ouvrages publiés (ou à paraître) entre octobre 2023 et le 17 septembre 2024, date à laquelle la seconde sélection sera annoncée. 

20/08/2024, 11:49

La sélection du Prix Comics de la Critique ACBD 2024 est connue  

Depuis six ans, le Prix Comics de la Critique ACBD distingue une bande dessinée de la culture anglo-saxonne. Il est décerné à un album publié entre août 2023 et juillet 2024, originalement édité par une maison anglophone pour un lectorat anglophone, puis traduit par un éditeur francophone pour le marché francophone.

19/08/2024, 13:26

Candidatures ouvertes pour les Prix des Bibliothèques publiques du Québec

La période de candidature pour les Prix des bibliothèques publiques du Québec, lancés en 2022 par L'Association des bibliothèques publiques du Québec (ABPQ) et le Réseau BIBLIO du Québec, est ouverte jusqu'au 5 septembre. Ces prix ont été créés pour mettre en lumière le rôle crucial des bibliothèques publiques et leur impact positif au sein des communautés.

16/08/2024, 14:59

Tous les lauréats des Hugo Awards 2024 sont connus

Les Hugo Awards - qui célèbrent les meilleurs ouvrages de science-fiction et de fantasy - ont rendu leur verdict. Les lauréats ont été révélés lors d'une cérémonie ce 11 août à Glasgow. Parmi les finalistes, Béa Wolf, de Zach Weinersmith et Boulet (First Second, traduction française d'Aude Pasquier chez Albin Michel), qui n'a pas remporté le prix de la meilleure bande dessinée.

12/08/2024, 16:51

Deux lauréats du Prix européen de la culture politique 2024 Fondation Hans Ringier

Le «Prix européen de la culture politique» de la Fondation Hans Ringier a été attribué en 2024 au couple Anne Applebaum et Radosław Sikorski. Avec eux, on honore des personnalités qui, sur le plan journalistique et politique, s'engagent corps et âme pour un Occident libre et démocratique. 

11/08/2024, 17:08

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