Amerigo Vespucci (born March 9, 1454 - death February 22, 1512) navigator, Florentine traveler, after whom America is possibly named. It is believed that he received this nickname or named himself so in honor of the already named continent. He took part in several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions (1499-1504) to the shores of South America, which he called the New World. One of the discoverers of the Amazon Delta, the Gulf of Venezuela, the Maracaibo Lagoon and the Brazilian Highlands; chief pilot (navigator) of Spain (1508)
It was Amerigo Vespucci who first expressed the opinion that the open land is not Asia, not islands, but a new continent!
early years
Vespucci was born in the family of a poor Florentine official, received a home liberal arts education, studied sciences and languages with his uncle, Giorgio Vespucci, a Dominican monk. Didn't attend school. His father, Anastasio Vespucci, was a public notary.
Amerigo served for a long time in the Medici banking house. 1490 - moved to Spain, where he worked as an agent of the same company in Seville, was usually engaged in equipping ships. He thoroughly studied the structure of ships, mastered navigation and astronomy, made various maps. 1492 - transferred to the Spanish naval service, participated in the outfitting of the second and third expeditions of Christopher Columbus, with whom he was friends. Until 1499, Vespucci did not sail anywhere.
Maiden voyage
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In the years 1499-1500. was navigator in the expedition of Alonso Ojeda (on three ships), commanding two ships equipped for his own money. 1499, summer - the ships approached the northern coast of South America at 5 ° or 6 ° north latitude, where the flotilla split up. Vespucci headed to the southeast, on July 2, he opened the Amazon delta and its mouth branch, Para, by boats he was able to penetrate up to 100 km. Then he continued to sail southeast to the Bay of San Marcos (44 ° West longitude), identified about 1200 kilometers of the northern coastal strip of South America, discovered the Guiana Current.
1) Amerigo Vespucci; 2) Christopher Columbus.
From there Vespucci turned back and in August caught up with Alons Ojeda near 66 ° West longitude. Walking west together, they discovered more than 1,600 kilometers of the southern coast of the mainland with the Paraguana and Guajira peninsulas, the Triste and Venezuelan bays, the Maracaibo lagoon and several other islands, including Curacao. In the fall, he again separated from Ojeda, surveyed the coast of South America 300 kilometers to the southwest, and returned to Spain in June 1500.
Second voyage
In 1501-1502 Vespucci was in the Portuguese service as an astronomer, navigator and historiographer in the 1st Portuguese expedition to Gonçalo Cuellu on 3 ships. In mid-August 1501, they approached the Atlantic coast of South America at 5 ° 30 ″ south latitude and passed to 16 °, repeating the discoveries of the Spaniard Bortolome Roldan (1500). On January 1, 1502, the expedition discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro (Guanabara), traced the coast 2,000 km to the southwest (to 25 ° south latitude) and, making sure that the earth was still stretching in the same direction, turned back. One caravel arrived in Portugal at the end of June, another with Cuella and Vespucci at the beginning of September (the third, which had fallen into disrepair, had to be burned).
Discovery of America (engraving).
Third voyage
In 1503-1504 Amerigo commanded a caravel in the 2nd expedition to Gonçalo Cuell on 6 ships. 1503, early August - near the Ascension Island discovered by them (8 ° south latitude), one ship sank, three went missing. Vespucci and Cuellu caravels reached the All Saints Bay, which was discovered in the previous voyage at 13 °. Having landed on the orders of Amerigo Vespucci, the detachment first climbed the steep ledge of the Brazilian Highlands and was able to penetrate 250 kilometers into the interior of the country. In the harbor at 23 ° South latitude, during a 5-month stay, the Portuguese built a fort, where they left 24 sailors, and returned to Lisbon with a load of sandalwood at the end of June 1504.
How the name "America" appeared
After sailing along the northern and eastern shores of the newly discovered lands, Amerigo Vespucci developed the correct idea of it as a southern transatlantic continent, and in 1503, in a letter to his homeland, he proposed to name the continent the New World. 1507 -Lotharing cartographer Martin Waldseemüller attributed Columbus's discovery of the “fourth part of the world” to Vespucci and named this continent America after Amerigo Vespucci. 1538 - this, already recognized name, was extended to the Mercator map and to North America. 1505 - after a second move to Spain, Amerigo received Castilian citizenship. 1508 - Appointed to the newly established post of Chief Pilot of Spain and holds it until his death.
1) Amerigo Vespucci; 2) Statue of Amerigo Vespucci in the Uffizi in Florence (Italy).
Personality, discoveries of Amerigo Vespucci
According to his contemporaries, he was an extremely honest, intelligent and observant person. In fact, Vespucci did not discover anything himself. On ships, he was more of a passenger than a professional sailor. But, thanks to this "passenger", detailed maps of the northern and eastern coasts of South America were compiled. Having remarkable literary talent, often exaggerating, Vespucci described bays and harbors, flora and fauna, as well as the appearance and way of life of the aborigines. Thanks to imagination and a wonderful style, many of the names given to them for the new lands have survived to this day: Venezuela (Little Venice), Rio de Janeiro (January River) and many others, not so famous. However, he kept silent about the leaders of the expeditions and his role in them.
Amerigo Vespucci - travel map.
The work done during Vespucci's expeditions is the work of a geographer. Can we say that Amerigo Vespucci discovered America? Of course not. America was discovered by the son of the Viking Eric the Red (Leyv Eriksson) back in 1000. The point is different, it was Amerigo who first suggested that the lands discovered in the West were not Asia, but a new continent, which he reported in his letters. Being a humble man, Vespucci suggested the name - "New World". Amerigo never claimed the laurels of Columbus, whose sons also did not make any claims to him.
It is known that Christopher Columbus until the end of his days stubbornly called the lands he discovered Asia or the West Indies. After all, Columbus himself never proposed any separate names for all the lands that he discovered as a result of four expeditions.