Amerigo Vespucci

Born in Florence in 1451, he began his career in business and worked with the Medici network before moving to Seville, where he became involved in the world of Atlantic travel and trade.

He later took part in voyages to the coasts of South America and became associated with the idea that these lands were not Asia, but part of a previously unknown continent. That insight, whether drawn from his own experience or shaped by the accounts published under his name, helped make him famous across Europe.

His reputation has long been debated, especially because some of the writings linked to him are difficult to verify with certainty. Even so, his name endured in world history when the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller used the feminine form "America" on a 1507 map.