Everyone knows that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus. And it is named after the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. Why? What did he do? How did he surpass Columbus? Let's try to figure it out.
Columbus himself until the end of his days was sure that he had opened the sea route to India and reached the Asian coast, and not some unknown continent. This misconception is evidenced by the name West Indies, which remained behind the islands of the Caribbean. Columbus's name bears only one of the South American republics - Columbia, and not the entire New World discovered by him. In addition, his name was also given to one of the western provinces of Canada, which is called British Columbia.
Vespucci was born in 1454 in the Italian city of Florence in the family of a poor notary. He worked as a small clerk at the Lorenzo Medici bank. On behalf of the owner of the banking house, Vespucci kept in touch with the Medici representatives in Spain.
In 1492, Amerigo Vespucci, as a representative of the banker Berardi, moved to Spain and settled in Seville. Berardi helped finance the first expedition of Columbus, and Vespucci met the great navigator, who until the end of his life considered the Florentine a friend and benefactor.
Thus, the activities of Amerigo Vespucci were closely associated with long sea voyages. At that time, in the minds of people, the desire for profit was closely intertwined with the desire for long journeys, adventures and adventures. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Amerigo Vespucci also went overseas.
It is now difficult to establish how many expeditions the Florentine took part in. In his letters, Amerigo Vespucci talks about four - two on Spanish ships, and two on Portuguese.
However, most historians believe that in reality Vespucci participated in only one expedition in 1499 - to the Pearl Coast under the command of Ojeda. No later than 1501, Vespucci went into Portuguese service and may have participated in one or two Portuguese expeditions to the southern hemisphere, along the coast of the New World. In 1504 Vespucci returned to Spain and four years later was appointed chief pilot (navigator) of Castile - the head of the Spanish navigation service. His duties included teaching navigators how to use measuring instruments, astrolabes and quadrants, testing their knowledge and ability to apply theory in practice, issuing diplomas, as well as drawing up and constantly updating a secret map of the world. This fact testifies to Vespucci's considerable knowledge of navigation.
Amerigo Vespucci tells about his discoveries in letters. It follows from them that in 1497 (somewhat earlier than Columbus), making his first journey, he discovered the shores of South America and Mexico, and from there he went north to 28 ° -30 ° N. sh. On the second expedition, he was a navigator and went to the shores of South America under the command of Ojeda.
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In mid-May 1501, according to Vespucci, he set out on his third expedition. Three Portuguese caravels (the name of the head of the expedition remained unknown) allegedly went to the shores of West Africa, and from there to the Cape Verde Islands. This was followed by a nine-week ocean crossing to the southern hemisphere. For five weeks storms raged. In early August, the navigators reached a large unknown land, sailed south along its shores and marked a vast coastline on the map, over three thousand kilometers long - from 5 ° to 25 ° S. sh. - with excellent bays, estuaries and capes. This is confirmed by the primitive map that has survived to this day. Vespucci wrote that the caravels reached 32 ° S in February 1502. sh., however, this end point is not indicated on the map.
Thirty-three days later, having covered about seven thousand kilometers, the sailors reached the shores of Guinea. Thus, Amerigo Vespucci allegedly led the first expedition in Antarctic waters, but the information he provided about this voyage is extremely vague and contradictory.
And yet, the description of just this, the third expedition (which, obviously, did take place - historians doubt only Vespucci's participation in it and the correctness of his information) brought Amerigo Vespucci world fame. In his letter to the Medici, he was the first of the then navigators who managed to tell about the overseas voyage as a talented writer - lively, figuratively and fascinatingly.
Vespucci said in a letter that he allegedly, on behalf of the Portuguese king, went overseas to the west and for two months and two days was under such a black stormy sky that neither the sun nor the moon could be seen. The sailors had already lost all hope of reaching the coast, but thanks to Vespucci's knowledge in cosmography, on August 7, 1501, they finally saw land. It was a blessed land, where people do not know hard work, trees and fields without any care give abundant fruits unknown to Europeans, the sea teems with fish, rivers and springs are full of clear, tasty water, cool breezes blow from the sea, and dense forests, in which there are many unknown animals and birds, even on the hottest days they give a pleasant coolness. People have a reddish skin color because they, according to Vespucci,from birth to death, they walk naked and are tanned in the sun, they have no clothes, no jewelry, or any property. Their morals are wild, they own everything that they have, together, even their wives.
Further Vespucci said that in this country there are no leaders, no temples, no pagan idols. The natives know neither trade nor money and live in great enmity with their neighbors, often fighting with them and killing each other in the most cruel way. They eat human meat, which is salted and hung on the roofs of houses, and were surprised that white people did not want to taste such delicious food. One of the natives boasted that he personally ate three hundred people.
Despite this, life in that country seemed so beautiful to Vespucci that he said at the end: "If there is an earthly paradise anywhere, then, apparently, not far from here."
Amerigo Vespucci also spoke about the beauty of the southern stars, completely different from ours, and forming different constellations.
He promised to describe his other travels, so that the memory of them would reach descendants.
However, surprising as it may seem, it was not the content of the letter, not its bright and captivating presentation, that attracted everyone's attention, but two words from its title: "Mundus Novus" ("New World").
Until then, in Europe, the largest geographical discoveries were considered the sea routes to India, found by Columbus and Vasco da Gama. Both of them reached the shores of Asia, but from two different directions.
Meanwhile, Amerigo Vespucci, judging by his words, discovered on the way to the west not India and not Asia, but a completely new unknown land between Europe and Asia, a new part of the world, which he called the "New World". Amerigo argues this name in detail: “None of our ancestors had the slightest idea about the countries that we saw, and about what is in them; our knowledge far surpassed that of our ancestors. Most of them believed that there was no continent to the south of the equator, but only an endless ocean, which they called the Atlantic; and even those who considered the presence of a continent here, for various reasons, were of the opinion that it could not be inhabited. Now my voyage has proved that such a view is incorrect and sharply contrary to reality, for south of the equator I discovered a continent,where some valleys are much more densely inhabited by people and animals than in our Europe, Asia and Africa; besides, there is a more pleasant and mild climate than in other parts of the world familiar to us."
Vespucci's letter sparked the curiosity of all of Europe. It was translated from Italian into Latin, “so that all educated people know how many wonderful discoveries have been made these days, how many unknown worlds have been discovered and what they are rich in,” as stated in the subtitle of a small pamphlet in which Vespucci's letter was published. This brochure was readily bought everywhere, read and re-read, because people wanted to learn as much as possible about the new lands overseas. It was translated into other languages, and soon the text was included in a collection of travel stories. Scientists - geographers, cosmographers, as well as book publishers and readers were impatiently waiting for the author to fulfill his promise and tell in more detail about his overseas travels.
In 1504, separate travel stories were published in Italy. Descriptions of the travels of Vasco da Gama, the first expedition of Columbus and others have been published. In 1507, they were combined into a collection, which also included descriptions of Cabral's expeditions, Columbus's three voyages and Amerigo Vespucci's "Mundus Novus". For some reason, the compiler of this collection provided it with a completely unfounded title: "New World and New Countries Discovered by Amerigo Vespucci from Florence." This book was published many times and therefore a false opinion was widely spread that Vespucci was the discoverer of all these new lands, although his name is mentioned in the text only along with the names of Columbus and other navigators. This was the first link in a long chain of accidents and mistakes.
At the beginning of the 16th century, a circle of amateur geographers was organized in the small Lorraine town of Saint-Dieu. One of its members, the young scientist Waldseemüller, wrote a small treatise "Introduction to Cosmography" and published it in 1507 with two letters from Vespucci translated into Latin.
The name "America" first appeared in this book, and the name of Columbus was not mentioned at all. Describing the world as Ptolemy knew it, the author stated that although the boundaries of this world expanded thanks to the efforts of many people, mankind learned about these discoveries only from Amerigo Vespucci. Waldseemüller declared Vespucci the discoverer of these lands and made a proposal to name a quarter of the world the land of Amerigo or America.
A few chapters later, the author reiterated his proposal, providing it with the following motivation: “Today these parts of the world (Europe, Africa and Asia) have already been fully explored, and a quarter of the world has been discovered by America Vespucci. And since Europe and Asia are named after women, I see no obstacles to calling this new region Ameriga - the land of Ameriga, or America - after the wise husband who discovered it."
It is unlikely that Waldseemüller was trying to diminish the merits and glory of Columbus with his proposal. It's just that he, like other geographers of the early 16th century, was convinced that Columbus and Vespucci discovered new lands in different parts of the world: Columbus, exploring Asia more widely, discovered new islands and peninsulas of the Old World, as well as the tropical strip of East Asia, while Vespucci discovered the "fourth part of the world", "New World" - the whole continent, stretching on both sides of the equator.
Waldseemüller brought the word "America" into the margins of his treatise and entered it into the world map attached to the book. The scientist did not suspect, of course, that later this name would be given to a huge continent stretching across both hemispheres from Patagonia to Alaska. The name "America" Waldseemuller attributed only to the northern part of Brazil, the so-called "Land of the Holy Cross" or "New World", but later it was assigned to the entire continent.
A few years later, Waldseemüller, having apparently received more reliable information about the true discoverer of the New World, removed from the reprint of his book everything related to the journey of Amerigo Vespucci, and everywhere replaced the name of the Florentine with the name of Columbus. But it was too late.
The fame of Amerigo Vespucci grew every day, while Columbus, it seemed, the world had consigned to oblivion.
In the second half of the 16th century, on many maps and globes, the name "America" has already spread to both continents. Only in Spain, and partly in Italy, this name was not in use. The Spaniards still wrote "India", "West India" and "New World" on their maps.
The new name - America - also provoked objections and protests. Vespucci was accused of malicious deception. The venerable Bishop Las Casas, seeing the name of America on the map, was indignant. He called Vespucci a liar and a swindler who, after the death of the admiral, appropriated the glory of a pioneer.
The attacks on Amerigo Vespucci did not stop. Scientists were thrilled - Vespucci is a deceiver! Voices were heard demanding that the word America be banned. In the 17th century, the glory of Amerigo Vespucci faded, and Columbus was again extolled as a hero not recognized in his time. The admiral's shortcomings and mistakes were hushed up, and the difficulties and sufferings he experienced were dramatically exaggerated and turned into legends. The admiral's enemies, especially Bobadilla and Fonseca, began to be portrayed as low villains, but the lowest, according to people, was Amerigo Vespucci - an envious, ill-wisher, evil and cowardly person. He himself allegedly never even dared to step on the deck of the ship, but, sitting in his office, he burned with envy and stole and appropriated the glory of Columbus.
What a paradox! Columbus discovered America, but did not realize it. Amerigo Vespucci did not open it, but was one of the first to realize that America is a new continent. This was enough for his name to be forever inscribed in the great book of human glory.
