Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci born in March 9, 1454 in Florence pursued a merchant's life unlike his brothers who continued studying at a scholar level. Employed at the Florentine commercial house of Medici, Vespucci rose to replace an Italian merchant with the Castilian crown known to have taken place during one of Columbus' voyage. Seven years after Columbus' voyage, Vespucci is suspected to have four voyages to the New World; however, modern historians suspect the validation of letters due to the discrepancy between location description and map coordinates. Vespucci's allegedly first two voyage were sponsored by Spain to gather information based on his knowledge of navigation and astronomy. Vespucci's profession as a merchant made him want to find the fastest way to sail to Asia for trade purposes; he was also initially interested in proving Columbus did not reach Asia. The last two voyages were sponsored by Portugal, it is difficult to prove Vespucci's third voyage because it cannot be confirmed he was on board the ship; little is known about the fourth voyage.

Many modern historians accept Vespucci's first voyage did not exist. The allegedly first voyage took place during 1497 to 1498 which modern historians believe to be forgeries with several descriptions of  tribes. The second voyage was during 1499-1500 the objective was sail around African mainland; however, Vespucci sailed southward, which resulted in the entrance of the Amazon River before returning to Spain. On 1501 to 1502 the first fleet stopped at Cape Verde then traveled reaching the coast of Brazil till reaching the Rio de Janeiro's bay. Vespucci  mapped Alpha and Beta Centauri and the constellation Crux which were unused and forgotten. The last voyage during 1503-1504 was to explore more of the eastern coast of Brazil. Vespucci's voyages had Cape Verde, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio de la Plata explored, mapped, described the natives.

Vespucci proved that the land Columbus traveled to was not Asia but a new continent. Also, the name America was derived from Vespucci's female version of his Latin pen name. Martin Waldseemuller was the one who invented the name and placed it into his map in which he mass produced. Vespucci was an important figure because he gave Europeans exposure to the New World. Vespucci gave active description of the indigenous people such as their daily lives. The lives of the natives differed differently from the Europeans such as religion and marriage practices. The exposure of the natives extended through out Europe that the letters his were printed in different languages. Vespucci died at the age of 58 in Spain because  he contracted malaria.