Amerigo Vespucci (9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italian-born merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence. Between 1497 and 1504, he participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal. He claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a continent new to Europeans, which he called the New World.
About Amerigo Vespucci in brief
Amerigo Vespucci (9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italian-born merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence. Between 1497 and 1504, he participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal. He claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a continent new to Europeans, which he called the New World. In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller applied the Latinized form America for the first time to a map showing the New world. Other cartographers followed suit, and by 1532 the name America was permanently affixed to the newly discovered continents. He was made a citizen of Castile by royal decree in 1505, and in 1508, he was appointed to the Newly created position of chief navigator for Spain’s Casa de Contratación in Seville. He died in 1512 and was buried at the San Giorgio de’ Medici church in Florence. His family was politically well-connected and he was tutored by his uncle, a Dominican friar in the monastery of San Marco. Amerigo’s later writings demonstrated a familiarity with the work of the classic Greek cosmographers, Ptolemy and Strabo, and the more recent work of Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. In 1482, when his father died, Amerigo went to work for Lorenzo difrco defrancesco de Medici, head of the Medici branch of the family.
He served as a manager for ten years, then as a housekeeper. He also worked for his father’s household for a few years. In 1512, he became a Castillian citizen, but it is unknown whether he was ever aware of these honours. He is buried in the city of Seville, where he was buried with his mother and two brothers. He had a son, Girolamo, who became a notary, and a daughter-in-law, Lisa di Giovanni Mini, who later became a well-known author and playwright. In his youth, he worked as an attache or private secretary in Lyon, Bologna, and Lyon, and then in Paris with French President Louis XI of France in 1481. His later writings show that he was interested in science and astronomy, and that he had a keen interest in the history of the world. He wrote about the discovery of the new continents and the role of the sun in the creation of the solar system. His work was published in 1503 and 1505 in two booklets, containing colourful descriptions of these explorations and other alleged voyages. Both publications were extremely popular and widely read across much of Europe. Although historians still dispute the authorship and veracity of these accounts, at the time they were instrumental in raising awareness of the discoveries and enhancing his reputation.
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