author
Amerigo Vespucci
1451–1512
Best known as the explorer whose name was given to the Americas, he helped Europeans understand that the lands across the Atlantic were not simply part of Asia. His voyages and widely read letters made him one of the most talked-about figures of the Age of Discovery.
1 Audiobook
The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci, and Other Documents Illustrative of His Career
by Amerigo Vespucci, Bartolomé de las Casas, Christopher Columbus
About the author
Born in Florence, Amerigo Vespucci was trained in the world of trade and banking before moving into maritime business in Seville. There he became involved with voyages to the Atlantic and eventually joined expeditions to the coasts of South America.
He is associated with voyages made for both Spain and Portugal around the turn of the 16th century. Vespucci became famous not just for traveling, but for the accounts published under his name, which described the newly encountered lands as a "New World" rather than the edge of Asia.
That idea had enormous influence. In 1507, the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller used the feminine Latin form of Vespucci's first name when labeling part of the new continent "America," and the name endured. Vespucci later served in Seville as piloto mayor, an important post that helped oversee navigation and the training of pilots for Spain's overseas voyages.