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Kaimana Kua
Mrs. Ross
20 October 2011
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci is a name that most people don’t know. In fact, the American
continent is named after him. He was an Italian explorer born in Florence, Italy in 1454.
Amerigo Vespucci is credited for being the man to recognize the “New World” as an entirely
new continent.
Amerigo Vespucci did not face many obstacles in relation to his voyages. He came from
a wealthy family and knew many high ranking people in the community. At the age of twenty
five he was employed by a famous Italian family who sent him as a representative to meet with
the King of France. In fact, he helped prepare the ships for Columbus’s second and third
expeditions in Seville, Spain.
Vespucci’s first voyage consisted of four ships under the command of Alonso de Ojeda
of Spain. The ships set sail in May of 1499. During this voyage of thirteen months he discovered
the mouth of the Amazon River and saw Cape St. Augustine. On his way back to Spain he
reached Trinidad; saw the mouth of the Orinoco River, and then Haiti. Vespucci thought he
sailed along the coast of the very eastern portion of the peninsula of Asia. When he returned to
Spain he was eager to set sail on another voyage to reach the Indian Ocean, the gulf of the
Ganges, and the island of Taprobane.
Amerigo set sail under the service of Portugal on May 13, 1501. It was during this
voyage that he became convinced that Columbus’s newly discovered lands were not part of Asia.

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They were indeed a “New World.” Additionally, through his voyages, Vespucci figured out a
way to measure the earth’s equatorial circumference and was only off by fifty miles.
In 1507, a German clergyman and geographer named Martin Waldseemuller published
the first map that used the name America for the “New World.” This would forever change the
history of the world. It is said that Columbus discovered the “New World,” but Vespucci was the
man who recognized that it was a “New World.”