He soon began working on ships, and he went on his first expedition in In , Vespucci went on his second voyage, this time as an official navigator.
The expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon River and explored the coast of South America. Vespucci was able to calculate how far west he had traveled by observing the conjunction of Mars and the Moon. On his third voyage in , Vespucci sailed under the Portuguese flag. After leaving Lisbon, it took Vespucci 64 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean due to light winds. His ships followed the South American coast to within miles of the southern tip, Tierra del Fuego. Along the way, the Portuguese sailors in charge of the voyage asked Vespucci to take over as commander.
While he was on this expedition, Vespucci wrote two letters to a friend in Europe. He described his travels and was the first to identify the New World of North and South America as a separate landmass from Asia.
Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed he had reached Asia. In one letter , dated March or April , Vespucci described the diversity of life on the new continent:. In his writings, Vespucci also described the culture of the indigenous people , focusing on their diet, religion, and—what made these letters very popular—their sexual, marriage, and childbirth practices.
The letters were published in many languages and were distributed across Europe they sold much better than Columbus's own diaries. Vespucci's descriptions of the natives were vivid and frank:.
Vespucci also described the richness of the land, and hinted that the region could be easily exploited for its valuable raw materials, including gold and pearls:. Scholars are not certain whether or not Vespucci participated in a fourth voyage to the Americas in If he did, there is little record of it, and we can assume the expedition was not very successful. Nevertheless, Vespucci did assist in the planning of other voyages to the New World.
European colonization of this region accelerated in the years after Vespucci's voyages, resulting in settlements in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America.
The Italian explorer's work played an important role in helping colonizers navigate the territory. Christopher Columbus wrote several times about Vespucci, and he never objected to the naming of the new continent.
He also founded first school of navigation with duties to standardize navigation techniques used by naval captains of that time. Home European Explorers Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo Vespucci - Italian Explorer Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, cartographer and navigator, best known for naming the North American continent with a slight variation of his first name and for proving the fact that New World is not part of an Asia but a new continent.
Demonstrating that the New World was not Asia but a previously unknown fourth continent. Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci is best known for his namesake: the continents of North and South America. But why were these continents named after him, especially since his voyages happened after Christopher Columbus' famed sail on the ocean blue? Vespucci was the first person to recognize North and South America as distinct continents that were previously unknown to Europeans, Asians and Africans.
Prior to Vespucci's discovery, explorers, including Columbus, had assumed that the New World was part of Asia. Vespucci made his discovery while sailing near the tip of South America in Amerigo Vespucci was one of many European explorers during the Age of Exploration, or Age of Discovery, which took place from the mids to mids.
Spurred by curiosity and economic incentive, explorers traveled distances that were great feats for their day. But what makes the time period so important, said Cosme, was the role it played in "shaping the world that we know today. Amerigo Vespucci was born on March 9, , in Florence, Italy.
As a young man, he was fascinated with books and maps. The Vespuccis were a prominent family and friends with the powerful Medicis , who ruled Italy for more than years.
After being educated by his uncle, Vespucci himself worked for the Medicis as a banker and later supervisor of their ship-outfitting business, which operated in Seville, Spain.
He moved to Spain in This business allowed Vespucci to see the great explorers' ships being prepared and to learn about the business of exploration. Goods like salt from Mali, coffee beans from Ethiopia, spices from India and the Molucca Islands and ginger, silk and tea from China were in high demand, said Cosme, who works in developing The Mariners' Museum's extensive Age of Exploration area.
Countries profited off trade and hoped to find riches like gold, silver and gems, Cosme said. At the time, explorers were searching for a northwest route to the Indies — the lands and islands of Southeast Asia — which would make trade easier and bring their country wealth. This meant they could charge high prices for incoming and outgoing goods and vessels traveling to and from Europe and Asia. The desire to find ocean routes that were faster, safer, and cheaper stimulated a search to find a better way of getting to these places.
Vespucci's business helped outfit one of Christopher Columbus ' voyages, and in Vespucci had the opportunity to talk with the explorer. Both men were fascinated by the works of Marco Polo, who influenced many explorers' love of seafaring and exploration, said Cosme.
This meeting further encouraged Vespucci's interest in travel and discovery. Like many explorers of the age, he wanted to gain new knowledge and see the world with his own eyes.
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