Amerigo Vespucci

Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations
& voyages in the Age of Exploration

Short Biography of the life of Amerigo Vespucci - Explorer and Navigator
The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Amerigo Vespucci:

Nationality - Italian - But became a naturalized Spaniard in 1505
Lifespan - 1454 - 1512
Family - Vespucci was the third son of Ser Nastagio, a notary of Florence
Education - Well educated. Was taught physics, geometry and astronomy
Career - Explorer and Navigator
Famous for: America was named after Amerigo Vespucci in 1507. A man called Regiomontanus was famous as a Medieval Scientist, Mathematician and Astronomer. His book Ephemerides was used by Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci to measure longitudes in their explorations of the New World.

Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Amerigo Vespucci - Explorer and Navigator

The following are additional facts and a timeline about the life and history of Amerigo Vespucci:

1454 Born in Ognissanti, Florence born - 9 March, 1451
1478 to 1480 He was attached to the embassy in Paris, working for his relative Guido Antonio Vespucci, ambassador of Florence to King Louis XI of France
1483 Amerigo became steward in the house of Lorenzo de Medici
1491 - 1492 He worked in Seville, Spain for the de Medici family where he learnt about the voyages of exploration and the men who were searching for a northwest passage to the Indies
1497: He was granted permission to undertake a voyage of discovery by King Ferdinand of Spain
1497 10 May The First Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci
1497 10 April He reached the mainland of Guiana
1498 15 October Amerigo Vespucci returned to Cadiz, Spain
1499 16 May The Second Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci with Alonzo de Ojeda set sail for Cape Verde. They crossed the Equator and explored the coast of Guiana and Brazil. They discovered Cape St. Augustine and the River Amazon
1500 September Returned to Spain. He reported his findings to the de Medici family
1501 May 14 The Third Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci setting sail for Cape Verde
1502 September 7 returned to Europe landing in Lisbon
1503 June 10 The Fourth Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci, sailing with Gonzal Coelho when he again set sail for Cape Verde and South America. On the return journey he discovered Bahia and the island of South Georgia He established a trading agency for brazil wood at Cape Frio - it was located exactly on the Tropic of Capricorn
1504 18 June Amerigo Vespucci returned to Lisbon in Portugal
1505 14 April Vespucci becomes a naturalized Spaniard
1505 Amerigo Vespucci married Maria Cerezo
1505 / 1507 Amerigo Vespucci made a fifth and sixth voyage with Juan de la Cosa
1507 German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller, printed the first map that used the name America for the New World
1508 August 6 Vespucci becomes Piloto Mayor (chief pilot) of Spain
1512 Amerigo Vespucci died at Seville, 22 February, 1512

Did Amerigo Vespucci discover America?

No. On 12 October 1492 Christopher Columbus reached land to the west of America in the Bahamas. Christopher Columbus was followed by Vespucci and many other explorers who were all searching for a passage to the Indies. In 1507 the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller, printed the first map that used the name 'America' for the New World clearly named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Information on this page is credited to
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/amerigo-vespucci.htm