Exploration · Literature · 1454–1512
Born: 9 March 1454 · Died: 22 February 1512 · Age at death: 57
Amerigo Vespucci died aged 57. He was born on 9 March 1454 and died on 22 February 1512.
Florentine navigator who realised the lands Columbus reached were a New World; the Americas are named after him
Did you know?Unlike Christopher Columbus, he was the first to demonstrate that Brazil and the West Indies were part of a separate, newly discovered continent.
Amerigo Vespucci gave his name to two continents. He was a Florentine merchant who worked for the Medici bank in Seville. He sailed on voyages to the New World around 1499 and 1501. He argued that the lands Columbus reached were not Asia but a new continent. Letters describing his journeys spread across Europe. In 1507 the mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller labelled the new lands "America" in his honour. Spain later made him its chief navigator.
Amerigo Vespucci (9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence after whom the Americas are named. Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery between 1497 and 1504, first on behalf of Spain (1499–1500) and then for Portugal (1501–1502).
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Profile
Florentine explorer, 1454–1512
Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence on 9 March 1454.
He worked for the Medici in Seville.
He sailed to South America around 1499 and 1501.
Waldseemüller's map named America after him in 1507.
Career highlights
Did you know?Historians still debate how many voyages he really made.
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