Born March 18, 1454,
Florence, Italy
Died February 22, 1512,
Seville, Spain
Amerigo Vespucci was the first to determine that South America was a separate, previously unknown continent that was not a part of Asia. He also worked out a system for calculating exact latitude that enabled him to produce a nearly correct estimate of the circumference of the earth. These two discoveries, which caused a revolution in geography and mapmaking, assured Vespucci a place in history; yet he is perhaps better known as the explorer for whom America was named. Since the time Vespucci claimed to have discovered the continent, scholars have been debating whether he or Christopher Columbus (see entry) should be honored for the achievement.
Vespucci was born on March 18, 1454, in Florence, Italy. His studies were supervised by an uncle who instilled in him an interest in astronomy and the study of the universe. In addition to being trained in business, Vespucci studied philosophy at the University of Pisa. He served as secretary to his uncle, who was the Florentine ambassador to France, before returning to Florence where he became the manager of a trading firm. The business was owned by the Medici family, the rich and powerful rulers of Florence who had business contacts all over Europe. In 1492 Vespucci was sent to Seville to help with the Medici company, which supplied provisions for Spanish ships sailing out of Seville on their great voyages of discovery. He outfitted the second and third expeditions led by Columbus to the New World.
Historians are not certain about whether Vespucci went on an expedition to the New World in 1497; however, there is evidence in May 1499 he was able to interest the court in his own expedition to the newfound lands across the Atlantic. He sailed from Cadiz in southern Spain with a fleet of four ships commanded by Alonso de Ojeda (see entry), who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage; Vespucci was the representative of the financial interests backing the current expedition.
When the fleet reached the northern coast of South America after a quick crossing of 24 days, Ojeda and Vespucci went separate ways. Vespucci headed south, becoming the first person to sight the coast of Brazil on June 27, 1499; he was also the first to explore the mouth of the Amazon River. Sailing north to Trinidad, he traveled along the coast of Venezuela to the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo where he replenished his supplies. During the return trip to Cadiz he stopped in the Bahamas and kidnapped 200 Native Americans to take back to Spain as slaves. He arrived in Cadiz in June 1500.
Convinced that there still might be a passage to Asia through the New World, Vespucci sailed again in May 1501, this time in the service of Portugal. During his crossing he met the ships of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral returning from a voyage to Brazil and India. On this second trip Vespucci reached land near the eastern tip of Brazil and entered the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. He is considered the discoverer of the Río de la Plata.
According to Vespucci’s account he went as far south as present-day Argentina, a claim that has caused debate among scholars. During his explorations in South America Vespucci developed a system for calculating longitude, which had previously been done simply by dead reckoning, or guesswork. Using this system he correctly estimated the circumference of the earth to within 50 miles of its actual measurement.
When Vespucci returned to Lisbon in June 1502 he proclaimed that although his party had not explored the islands off the coast of Asia they had discovered a continent between Europe and Asia that was previously unknown to Europeans. His letter about this discovery, titled Mundus Novus (New World), caused a sensation and was translated into Latin, French, Italian, and German.
Vespucci’s name was given to North and South America because of an account of his travels, published at St. Dié in Lorraine, France, in 1507, in which he is represented as having discovered and reached the mainland in 1497. It led the geographer Martin Waldseemüller to regard him, rather than Columbus, as the discoverer of the great landmass in the west and to suggest that it be called America in honor of his expeditions.
In 1505 Vespucci was naturalized as a Spanish subject. Three years later he was appointed pilot major of the kingdom, a prestigious position that put him in charge of training and examining pilots and gave him control of the master map. In 1512 Vespucci died of malaria, from which he had suffered during his voyages; he had been planning another trip of exploration to South America.
The question of whether Vespucci made two or four voyages to the New World has long kept scholars occupied. For instance, some historians say he traveled to the continent only twice, in 1499 and 1501, while others believe his accounts of an earlier trip in 1497 and another in 1503. The question of the 1497 voyage is especially important: if Vespucci did discover the new continent before Columbus, he would have had to make that trip, during which he said he reached the mainland. Columbus did not explore the mainland until 1498, when he went ashore on the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. Some twentieth-century historians tend to believe Vespucci’s claims about his discoveries.
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