Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as initially conjectured from Columbus' voyages, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass hitherto unknown to Europeans. Colloquially named the New World, this second super continent came to be known as "Americas", deriving its name from Americus, the Latin transcription of Vespucci's first name. Learn more about the man who gave his name to the new continent, read his personal letters, diaries and what his contemporaries wrote about him.
Table of Contents:
Biography of Amerigo Vespucci by Frederick A. Ober
Life of Vespucci by Clements R. Markham
Letter of Amerigo Vespucci to a "Magnificent Lord"
Letter of Amerigo Vespucci to Lorenzo Pietro F. di Medici
Evidence of Alonso de Hojeda respecting his Voyage of 1499
Account of the Voyage of Hojeda, 1499-1500, by Navarrete
Letter of the Admiral Christopher Columbus to his Son
Letter of Vianelo to the Seigneury of Venice
Letter of Naturalization in Favour of Vespucci
Appointment of Amerigo Vespucci as Chief Pilot
Chapters from Las Casas, which discuss the Statements of Vespucci:
Evidence respecting the Voyage of Pinzon and Solis
Las Casas on the Voyage of Pinzon and Solis