By Hailey SnyderBy Hailey Snyder

Amerigo Amerigo VespucciVespucci

❖ Vespucci was born March 18, 1454 in Florence, Italy.

❖ As a young man he read widely and collected books and maps.

❖ Vespucci was well - educated by his uncle. He became involved in trading goods as a businessman. This is how he got involved with boats.

❖ On his first expedition ,sailing to Spain in 1449 to 1500 , Vespucci was a navigator under command of Alonso de Ojeda.

❖ After they left Spain in 1449, they discovered the mouth of the Amazon and Orinoco River in South America.

❖ Vespucci was the first explorer to figure out that North and South America weren’t a part of Asia.

❖ This is why his name was given to the Americas.

❖ In honor of Vespucci, Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker , printed the first map that used the name America.

❖ In 1501, Vespucci was convinced there might be a passage through the “New World” to Asia.

❖ In 1503 or 1504, Amerigo Vespucci published a pamphlet, in Latin, under the Latinized name of Albericas Vesputius, entitled Mundus Novus. The pamphlet stated his belief in a New World.

❖ At age 58, Vespucci died from malaria on his third voyages to the “New World” in 1512.

Internet Sources❖ http://library.thinkquest.org/4034/vespucci.html

❖ http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/vespucci.htm

❖ http://bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/americo_vespucci.htm

❖ http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexv.shtml

❖ http://geography.about.com/cs/historicalgeog/a/amerigo.htm