Vespucci, Amerigo

(1454-1512) He was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer who played a significant role in the establishment of America. He was the first to establish that America was a new continent and not a part of Asia. Amerigo’s legacy is not only his name, but in his dignity and devotion to the divine. Amerigo had believed for years before any actual discovery that there was a New World. ‘Those new regions which we found we may rightly call a New World.’ Unbeknownst to Amerigo, the New World was to be given his name. A group of scholars at the university of St. Die in Lorrain obtained copies of Amerigo’s letters to Piero and published them. In the ninth chapter of the book ‘’Cosmographie Introduction’’, one of the scholars suggested naming the New World America… Read More…

Chronological History of Events Involving Amerigo Vespucci

April 25, 1507

The ‘Cosmographiae Introductio’ is Printed and Suggests the Name “America” for the New World after Explorer Americus Vespuccius (Latin)

Cosmographiae Introductio ("Introduction to Cosmography"; Saint-Dié, 1507) is a book that was published in 1507 to accompany Martin Waldseemüller's printed globe and wall-map (Universalis Cosmographia). The book and map contain the first mention of the term 'America'. Waldseemüller's book and maps, along with his 1513 edition of Ptolemy’s Geography, were very influential and widely copied at the time. It is widely held to have been written by Matthias Ringmann although some historians attribute it ...

Read More

March 9, 1454

Italian Navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, is born in Florence, Italy

He played a significant role in the establishment of America. He was the first to establish that America was a new continent and not a part of Asia. Amerigo's legacy is not only his name, but in his dignity and devotion to the divine. Amerigo had believed for years before any actual discovery that there was a New World. 'Those new regions which we found we ...

Read More