Amerigo Vespucci
A Florentine merchant and navigator whose published accounts of the New World led mapmakers to name two continents after him.
1454–1512 (age 58)·Italian explorer and navigator·Birthday: March 9
Biography
Amerigo Vespucci was not the first European to reach the Americas, but he was the first to argue convincingly that these lands were a separate continent, a 'New World' unknown to the ancients. Working initially for the Medici family's commercial interests in Seville, he participated in several expeditions along the coast of South America around the turn of the 16th century. His real impact came from his lively, detailed letters describing the geography, flora, fauna, and indigenous peoples he encountered. These accounts, widely published across Europe, captured the public imagination. In 1507, a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, proposed the new continent be called 'America' in Vespucci's honor on his world map, a name that stuck.
#1 When Amerigo Was Born
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Amerigo's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1454Born
1459Started school
1467Became a teenager
1470Could drive
1472Could vote
1475Turned 21
1484Turned 30
1494Turned 40
1504Turned 50
1512Died at 58
Key Achievements
- His written accounts were the first to identify the Americas as a distinct continental landmass separate from Asia.
- The name 'America', derived from the Latin version of his first name, was first applied to a map in 1507.
- He served as piloto mayor (chief navigator) for Spain, responsible for training pilots and examining new navigational data.
- Participated in early European explorations of the coast of what is now Brazil and Venezuela.
Did You Know?
Vespucci was a friend and possible employer of Christopher Columbus's son, Ferdinand.
He likely never commanded his own expedition, serving as an observer or navigator on voyages led by others.
The famous 1507 Waldseemüller map that named America is known as 'the baptismal certificate of the New World'.
Some of his letters' authenticity and the veracity of certain voyages have been debated by historians for centuries.
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